Fireworks Galaxy, Open Cluster and Supernova

Description

NGC 6946 (unofficially known as the Fireworks Galaxy is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 22 million light-years away, in the constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. It was discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798. NGC 6946 is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. The true diameter of the galaxy is approximately 40,000 light-years or just about one-third of the Milky Way's size. Due to the prodigious star formation it has been classified as a starburst galaxy. NGC 6939 is an open cluster in the constellation Cepheus. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1798. The cluster lies 2/3° northwest from the spiral galaxy NGC 6946. The cluster lies approximately 4.000 light years away and it is over a billion years old. This image shows a supernova SN2017eaw that appeared in May.

Equipment and processing

Telescope: ES102CF

Mount: Orion Atlas

Camera: ST 8300M

Filters: Baader LRGB

Guiding: PHD

Processing: PixInsight

Capture software: CCDCiel

Exposures: L: bin1 150x300 RGB: bin1 20x300

Location: Parsippany,NJ