Lying on the border of Cepheus and Cygnus, NGC 6946 is a facial spiral set in a very rich field of stars, and is sometimes called the fireworks galaxy. Credit: Tony Hallas
NGC 6946 is a luminous galaxy sometimes called fireworks galaxy due to its high supernovae rate. It is located in a very rich stellar field right on the border of Cepheus and Cygnus.
This object is an intermediate spiral, which means that structurally it tilts a little towards being a barred spiral. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1798. The galaxy is about 25 million light years away, positioning it halfway between our local galaxies group and the cluster of the Virgin.
NGC 6946 is a child for supernovae, who underlines his nickname. The bright supernovae in the NGC 6946 occurred in 1917, 1939, 1948, 1968, 1969, 1980, 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2018. This galaxy showed at least 10 times the supernova production rate as a Milky Way and the magnitudes of these supernovas worked from 11 to 16.
Due to its extremely high production rate of stars, NGC 6946 has been classified as Starburst Galaxy.
The galaxy shows an unusual structure, some of which are visible in very large amateur telescopes, and this includes different bubbles, large open clusters and supernova remains.
