NGC 6946 The Fireworks Galaxy.
The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798. Based on an estimation by the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3) in 1991, the galaxy has a D25 B-band isophotal diameter of 87,300 light-years. It is heavily obscured by interstellar matter due to its location close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy. NGC 6946 has also been classified as a double-barred spiral galaxy, with the inner, smaller bar presumably responsible for funneling gas into its center. 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". -- Wikipedia
Total image time was 4 hours and 40 min with No filter, and 7.75 hours with Triad Quad Ultra Filter
| Exposure | 28x10 min + 31*15 min. | |||||||||
| GAIN | 100 | |||||||||
| Camera | ToupTek ATR2600C [6224 x 4168] | |||||||||
| Optics | 120mm Skywatcher Esprit on a Proxisky UMi20S Strain Wave mount | |||||||||
| Guiding | ToupTek GPM462M using Phd2 | |||||||||
| Controller | Kstars on MeLe Quieter 4C | |||||||||
| Filter | None + Triad Quad Ultra | |||||||||
| Location | Myra River, Cape Breton, and Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. | |||||||||
| Date | 2025-08-27, 2025-08-38, 2025-08-31 | |||||||||
| PixInsight Processing |
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