Centered in the picture above, 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. This color composite combines broad and narrow band images - including a deep exposure recorded with a H-alpha and an OIII filters. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, this Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across (Text adapted from APOD).

This object is very challenging for my suburban location since very low in the horizon and almost losted in the light pollution glow. This picture was taken with a 80% full moon up in the sky.