Galaxy
Fireworks Galaxy
Spiral galaxy · C12 · NGC 6946
Spiral galaxy in Cepheus
Photo: Renseb at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
NGC 6946, sometimes referred to as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a grand design, face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years or 7.72 megaparsecs, similar to the distance of M101 in the constellation Ursa Major. Both were once considered to be part of the Local Group, but are now known to be among the dozen bright spiral galaxies near the Milky Way but beyond the confines of the Local Group. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~18 million light-years
Apparent mag.
+8.9
Apparent size
11.4′ × 10.8′
Best seen with
Binoculars
Catalogue
C12 · NGC 6946
Did you know
- Listed as Caldwell 12 in the Caldwell catalogue, also known as NGC 6946.
- Found in the constellation Cepheus.
- Within reach of ordinary binoculars under dark skies.
