Astronomy Picture of the Day 12-05-02

NASA ^ | 12-05-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 December 5

NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet
Credit: Christine and David Smith, Steve Mandel, Adam Block (KPNO Visitor Program), NOAO, AURA, NSF

Explanation: NGC 2359 is a striking emission nebula with an impressive popular name - Thor's Helmet. Sure, its suggestive winged appearance might lead some to refer to it as the "duck nebula", but if you were a nebula which name would you choose? By any name NGC 2359 is a bubble-like nebula some 30 light-years across, blown by energetic winds from an extremely hot star seen near the center and classified as a Wolf-Rayet star. Wolf-Rayet stars are rare massive blue giants which develop stellar winds with speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. Interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to this nebula's more complex shape and curved bow-shock structures. NGC 2359 is about 15,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Canis Major.

Tomorrow's picture: sun block

[petuniasevan]

Wolf-Rayet stars are VERY rare.
We know of only about 200 in the Milky Way.

[petuniasevan]

I wish I could put a counter on this thread so I could see if anyone visits anymore. Not one reply on yesterday's APOD.

I know everyone has other concerns, and that this is primarily a political forum. I'm wondering if it is worth my while to continue posting the APOD. Can I get a vote?

1. Yes, I like the APOD and would like to see it continue at FR.

2. I can take or leave it. It's curiosity, not interest.

3. No, I visit the NASA APOD site if I want to see it.

[WSGilcrest]

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111


I live for these posts!!

[WSGilcrest]

BTW, I've been getting the dreaded for the last two days.

[WSGilcrest]

p.s. I put a counter on a thread once. (On accident) It worked. Had to have admin pull it as it was messing up the hits on a web page I had.

[altair]

Yes, please continue.

[altair]

I wish I could put a counter on this thread so I could see if anyone visits anymore. Not one reply on yesterday's APOD.

One way to do that would be to embed an image in your post located on a web page to which you have access to the servers stats. Since the whole point of these threads is to look at pretty pictures, I don't think anyone is browsing it with image loading turned off :-).

[Jeff Chandler]

1.

[petuniasevan]

I wonder. Are other images on other threads working?

If so, maybe it's the link to NASA's site that's the problem.

Try clearing your history (Internet Options), then delete your Temporary Internet Files. Make sure that any cookies for the http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod site are removed.

Also you can check to see if your browser gets the newest version of page upon each visit to the page.

If these don't help, try clicking the link to the NASA site. If that works, and the FR reposting does not, I'm stumped.

[sistergoldenhair]

Please continue. I really enjoy APOD.

[firewalk]

1 (-:

[Freedom2specul8]

If you don't mind, please keep on posting them..

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I LOVE APOD!!!!!!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

1

My Dad was in an auto wreck 6 weeks ago in Colorado. I drove up to the hospital the next day and brought him back to Texas after a week in the hospital and have been seeing to him ever since. My FReeper time is limited and slower now too since I'm at his house on his computer using his AOL connection. I didn't realize you had noticed my bumps and comments on your APOD posts before. Nice to see maybe you were now.

He's doing much better now and perhaps I'll be able to go back to my house soon.....

[MozartLover]

1

And you have mail.:)

[Bikers4Bush]

I visit everyday.

[RepRivFarm]

I lurk on your thread every day...never seem to have time to post. Keep it up!

[Joan912]

Please keep posting! I'll cry if you don't!

[SuziQ]

That's a cool formation!! We enjoy seeing the APODs. My daughter is really into stars, constellations, etc. She LOVED the one of the Pliedes the other day!

[foolish-one]

I'm here every day. Just have a hard time replying "Beautiful!" or "Amazing!" to every APOD post. But I will if it helps you.

Oh, by the way,

1. Yes, I like the APOD and would like to see it continue at FR.