NGC 6946

spiral galaxy in the constellation Cepheus

NGC 6946, also known as the Fireworks galaxy, Arp 29, and Caldwell 12, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cepheus and Cygnus. It is about 22.5 million light-years away[2] from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in September 9, 1798. It's highly obscured by interestellar matter, and it's very close to the galactic plane. It has a third of the Milky Way’s size.

Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946 or Fireworks Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in Cepheus and Cygnus
Observation data (J2000[1] epoch)
Right ascension 20h 34m 52.3s [1]
Declination60° 09′ 14″ [1]
Redshift0.000160
Distance22.5±7.8 Mly [2]
Characteristics
TypeSAB(rs)cd
Notable featuresGalaxy with lots of Supernovae
Other designations
UGC 11597, Arp 29, PGC 65001, SPB93 263, 8C 2033+599, 11HUGS 410, IRAS 20338+5958, IRASF 20338+5958
See also: Galaxy, List of galaxies

Supernovae in NGC 6946

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Fireworks Galaxy has this name because of how many supernovae happened in the galaxy.[3] The supernovae in this galaxy occur very frequently. In the last century a total of 9 supernovae were seen from this galaxy: SN 1917a, SN 1939c, SN 1948b, SNSN 1968d, SN 1969p, SN 1980k, SN 2002hh, SN 2004et, SN2008s.

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database".
  2. 2.0 2.1 NASA. "NGC 6946: The 'Fireworks Galaxy' - NASA".
  3. "NGC 6946".

Other websites

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