{"next":"2026-06-10","photo":{"source":"nasa","date":"2026-06-09","cid":"bafkreihg237skkivffledsp6qifuhqufzbtskfqjaxwdgunyb5yaq7avam","title":"Thor's Helmet","explanation":"Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens.  Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown by a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This sharp image is a combination of deep images taken in light emitted by hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue).  The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.   Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995)","imageUrl":"https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2606/Thor_Drudis_4389.jpg","thumbUrl":"https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2606/Thor_Drudis_960.jpg","mediaType":"image","credit":"Josep Drudis,\nChristian Sasse","sourceUrl":"https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260609.html","placeholder":false,"fetchedAt":"2026-06-11T00:20:07Z"},"prev":"2026-06-08","source":"nasa"}