NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy (John Dziuba)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg) · Contains: Fireworks Galaxy · NGC 6946

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NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

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NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

This the the Fireworks galaxy captured over many nights between July 27th and Aug 29th with a CDK20 telescope in Spain, part of the Skygems network.

The Fireworks galaxy is roughly 25.2 million light years away. It lies between the Cepheus and Cygnus constellations. It is roughly 1/3 the size of the Milky Way and contains about half as many stars. Due to its location close the galactic plane, there is a lot of interstellar matter between us and the galaxy making this a notoriously challenging object to image. The color tends to be shifted red due to the dust and gasses we are looking through. It is a real processing challenge to correct for this and to try to approximate a natural color.

This was a very challenging data set. I could not get a decent set of flats and I had to work around heaps of flat field errors and dust motes. Given what I started with, I am very pleased with the result. I am thrilled to be imaging on my own equipment again as the rainy season in South Florida begins to abate.

The name Fireworks galaxy originates from the fact that there have been 10 supernovae observed in the galaxy in the 20th and 21st centuries. That is about 10 times the rate in the Milky Way even though the Milky Way has twice as many stars. It has also been labeled a starburst galaxy due to its prodigious star formation. To highlight these star forming regions, I captured some Ha data that I then blended into the red channel.

Acquisition Data:
L - 34 x 600s
R- 20 x 300s
G - 16 x 300s
B - 16 x 300s
Ha - 12 x 300s

Original
B
Final
C
D

Southern Hemisphere Astro

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6284395
PixInsight job	QBC9PVL8KVZ4ENRK9PVC03CK1HKYTRU5
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	20h34m52s.402
RA (top/left)	20h36m29s.606
RA (top/right)	20h33m46s.248
RA (bottom/right)	20h33m16s.294
RA (bottom/left)	20h35m58s.340

Dec (center)	+60°09′16″.96
Dec (top/left)	+60°17′49″.71
Dec (top/right)	+60°21′33″.20
Dec (bottom/right)	+60°00′40″.50
Dec (bottom/left)	+59°56′57″.53

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NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

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NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

NGC6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy

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