Astrophotography by Keith B. Quattrocchi


NGC 6946:  The Fireworks Galaxy
Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cepheus
Ha/LRGB Image

Copyright 2022
Keith B Quattrocchi and Bray Falls

Image Acquisition Information  
                    
Telescope: 16" RCOS Richey Chretien Telescope (ion milled at f/9) 
Camera: ZWO Full Frame Back Illuminated CMOS ASI 6200 MM
Guiding: Starlight Xpress AO with UltraStar Autoguiding Camera (AO control using maxim DL software).
Filters: Astrodon LRBG, H-alpha, S-II and OIII Filters
Acquisition Programs: NINA, The SkyX, PHD2, PWI4
Processing Programs: PixInsight, RC Astro, CCDStack, Photoshop CS4
Date: Data processed on June 30, 2022.  Data acquisition:  May of 2022                            
Time:  5 hours (10 minute exposures) for each of Ha/LRGB  for a total of 25 hours.                
              
Image Information:  NGC 6946, also known as the Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy located about 25.2 million light-years away. It gets its nickname from the exceptionally high number of supernova explosions observed within it.

Processing Information: These Ha/LRGB images were obtained using AstroDon filters.  The Ha/LRGB images were batch processed (calibrated, registered, normalized and integrated) in PixInsignt.   Further stretching, high pass filtering and background smoothing was performed with Adobe Photoshop CS/4 and PixInsight.