Wolf-Rayet star
A Wolf-Rayet star is a rare, massive, and extremely hot star characterized by strong stellar winds and significant mass loss. These stars are in a late stage of stellar evolution, often preceding a supernova explosion, and are known for their broad emission lines of ionized elements in their spectra.
Source: science.nasa.gov
APODs including "Wolf-Rayet star"
Thor's Helmet
05/06/2010
This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. 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. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. The sharp image, made using broadband and narrowband filters, captures striking details of the nebula's filamentary structures. It shows off a blue-green color from strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas.