Fireworks Galaxy

Fireworks Galaxy (NGC6946) in Cepheus

Technical Details Telescope: C11 Mount: MI-250 Camera: SBIG ST-10XME Filters: Astrodon LRGB Dates: July 1-3, 2006 Exposure: LRGB: L=(1x1) 16x6min, RGB=8x5min (2x2) each for 216 minutes total at -20C Notes: This galaxy is fairly obscured being behind the plane of the Milky Way, and dimmed by the dust in our galaxy. There is a lot of activity in the arms of this galaxy, new star formation, and a lot of supernovas have been observed in this galaxy. It is fairly close about about 10 million light years away. All of the larger stars you see are stars in the Milky Way, much closer to us than the galaxy itself. Galaxies are made of billions of stars, they are so far away in this picture, we just see the collective light from the stars, not the individual stars themselves.