Near picture center, the helmet-shaped structure with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet.
Cataloged as NGC 2359, the striking nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major.
The helmet is actually more like a cosmic bubble, blown as the wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through the surrounding molecular cloud.
Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the energetic star is a blue giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution.
