The Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946 in Cepheus and Cygnus
is a face-on, intermediate spiral galaxy with a starburst core, and straddles the constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. About 25,000,000 light-years distant, it is a member of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. Discovered by William Herschel in 1798, it has a diameter of about 40,000 light-years, and contains only about half the number of stars of the Milky Way. Due to its location close to the galactic plane of our Milky Way, it is heavily obscured by interstellar dust. Note the very interesting, round, blue feature at about 1 o’clock on the arms of the galaxy. Hodge's Complex was discovered in 1967, and in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on top of NGC 6964, rather than part of it. My thanks go out to David Alexander who acquired and calibrated the data at Sierra Remote Observatory near Fresno, California.
LARGE
is a face-on, intermediate spiral galaxy with a starburst core, and straddles the constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. About 25,000,000 light-years distant, it is a member of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. Discovered by William Herschel in 1798, it has a diameter of about 40,000 light-years, and contains only about half the number of stars of the Milky Way. Due to its location close to the galactic plane of our Milky Way, it is heavily obscured by interstellar dust. Note the very interesting, round, blue feature at about 1 o’clock on the arms of the galaxy. Hodge's Complex was discovered in 1967, and in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on top of NGC 6964, rather than part of it. My thanks go out to David Alexander who acquired and calibrated the data at Sierra Remote Observatory near Fresno, California.
LARGE