The Fireworks Galaxy and an Open Cluster

NGC 6946, or "The Fireworks Galaxy", is one of a ~dozen nearby neighbors to the Milky Way. The galaxy, is a 9th magnitude face-on spiral galaxy positioned on the border between Cepheus and Cygnus. 

At ~22.5 Million light-years it's one of the nearest galaxies outside of the Local Group. In the past 100 years, 9 supernovae have been observed in NGC 6946, hence the nickname the Fireworks Galaxy!

I so enjoy capturing photons from two different objects and this photo contains a lovely open cluster, NGC 6939. Discovered by William Herschel in 1798, it contains some ~630 stars. With the use of photometric studies, the age of the cluster was estimated to be between 1,0 and 1,3 billion years

The Fireworks Galaxy and Open Cluster NGC 6939

This is one of my favorite photos even though it could use another hour of data. I may go back and add some to it.

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL

             Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Filter: 2" Optolong L-Pro

Mount: Losmandy GM8

Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro 

Exposure: Light (Gain 100) - 57 subs @ 120 Seconds

Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 0 Flats

​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topax Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS