NGC 6946
The face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is fueled by the births and deaths of brilliant, massive stars. Over the past century, eight supernovae have exploded in the arms of this galaxy, making NGC 6946 the most prolific known galaxy for supernovae during the past 100 years. A zoom-in image of this galaxy from the Gemini North telescope is also available on this website.
| Observatory: | Kitt Peak National Observatory Kitt Peak, Arizona |
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| Telescope: | KPNO 4-Meter |
| Instrument: | Mosaic I |
| Astronomer: | T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) |
| Date of Observation: | 09-05-2008 |
| Filters and Assigned Colors: | U (violet), B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and H-alpha (red) |
| Exposure Times: | 5x13min in U, 5x12 min in B, 5x7min in V, 5x5min in I, 6x12min in H-alpha |
| Location of Image: | Cygnus |
| Field of View: | 25.0 x 17.0 arcmin |
| Orientation: | North is left, East is down |
| Link to Larger Image | |
| Link to Full Resolution Image | |
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