NGC 6946
Fireworks Galaxy in Cygnus

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 5-13-20 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15-30-25 (70 total), Gain = 70 of 250

The Fireworks Galaxy is a pretty, loose, spiral-armed structure that appears about 12 arcminutes across. Many clumps, knots, and dark lanes are visible in this view. The galaxy lies in the Coma-Sculptor Cloud of galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster, about 25 million light years away, just outside the confines of the Local Group. Physically it has about half the number of stars as the Milky Way (50 billion) and is about a third the size (40,000 light years). The galaxy makes a pretty pair in the sky with the open cluster NGC 6939, about 40 arcminutes to the northwest.

North at 10 o’clock, East at 7 o’clock