NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy, lies on the border between the constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus.

Discovered by William Herschel in 1798, NGC 6946 is called the Fireworks Galaxy because so many supernovae have been spotted there and because of its prodigious rate of star formation. Numerous red emission nebula can be seen in the spiral arms of the galaxy. These are the birthplaces of new stars.

NGC 6946 is a 9.0 magnitude spiral galaxy that is 11.5 x 9.8 arcminutes in size and is located 10 million light-years away and is 40,000 light-years across.

We see NGC 6946, an SAB-type spiral galaxy, nearly face on. It is greatly reddened by interstellar dust in our own galaxy because it lies almost in the galactic plane.

North is to the bottom in the above image.

NGC 6946 Catalogs: NGC 6946, UGC 11597 Common Name: Fireworks Galaxy Object Type: SAB(rs)cd Galaxy Magnitude: 9.0v Size: 11.5' x 9.8' Constellation: Cygnus Image Field Centered At: RA: 20h 34m 53s Dec: +60° 08' 50"