This galaxy, cataloged as NGC 6946, is a face on spiral galaxy. It's spiral shape is the same as our Milky Way galaxy but it is only about 20% as large as the Milky Way's 100,000 light year width (a light year is about 6 trillion miles). It looks larger due to its close distance of about 10 million light years. The red in the spiral arms are areas of hydrogen gas that are forming stars at a hight rate; a rate that is not fully understood. Since the galaxy has been the location of a very high number of supernovae (an exploding star) over the past approximately 90 years, some scientists theorize that the shock waves from these enormous explosions push the hydrogen gas clouds together enough to allow gravity to pull the hydrogen together to ignite into new stars.

To see largest available size click on "Original" at bottom of page

To see full screen press F11. Press F11 again to return to normal screen

Dates:
July, August and September, 2011
Location:
Ft. Griffin State Historic Site, Texas
Telescope:
Celestron C11Edge @ f/10 2800mm FL
Mount:
Astro-Physics Mach1 guided by the ST-10XE using the Remote Guide Head thru Off Axis Guider
Camera:
SBIG ST-10XE at prime focus with CFW8 and Astronomik LRGB filters
Image Scale:
.5 arcsecs/pxl
Camera Control:
Maxim DL 5.15
Exposures:
Luminance - 270 mins; 1x1
Red - 70 mins; 2x2
Green - 70 mins; 2x2
Blue - 100 mins; 2x2
Exposure time:
8 hrs 30 mins
Processing:
CCDStack; Registar; Photoshop CS2; Star Spikes Pro2