NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years., similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years, about one-third of the Milky Way’s size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called ‘Red Ellipse’ along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as “Hodge’s Complex”. This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6946.
Ten supernovae have been observed in NGC 6946 in the last century.
NGC 6946, Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946, (also known as the Fireworks Galaxy, Arp 29, and Caldwell 12), is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 18 million light-years away,in the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus. NGC 6946 is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. The diameter of the galaxy is approximately 40,000 light-years or just about a third of the size of the Milky Way.
Photographed with APO 107 mm refractor telescope and Nikon D800 DSLR camera in Åva, October 2016. Total exposure time was 30 min at ISO 800.
NGC 6946, Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years., similar to the distance of M101 (NGC 5457) in the constellation Ursa Major.
The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years, about one-third of the Milky Way’s size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy.
Photographed with APO 107 mm refractor telescope and Atik 260EX CCD camera in Åva, November 2019. Exposure was a total of 56 min wilt L and RGB filters.
NGC 6946 and Open Cluster NGC 6939
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years It is among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called ‘Red Ellipse’ along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across.
Photographed with APO 107 mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, November 2022. Exposure was 18*3min with IDAS LPS P3 light pollution filter. Improved guiding and improved post-processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop.
NGC 6946 and Open Cluster NGC 6939
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years It is among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called ‘Red Ellipse’ along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across.
Photographed with APO 107 mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, November 2022. Exposure was 18*3min with IDAS LPS P3 light pollution filter. Improved guiding and improved post-processing in Pixinsight and Photoshop.
NGC 6946, Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years It is among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6946. This includes the so-called ‘Red Ellipse’ along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across.
Photographed with RC8″ reflector telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, November 2022. Exposure was 29*3 min with IDAS LPS D2 light pollution filter. No magnification in post-processing.
