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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
north SunriseRise: 4:43  
clear_day Transit: 12:58  
SunsetSet: 21:13 south
wb_twilight  • Nautical Twilight • What's Visible Now

In Evidence

Best Places to See the 2024 American Eclipse Based on Historical Weather Data
Using historical cloud coverage data we suggest the locations that could provide the better chances to have clear skies on April 8, 2024 to observe the eclipse. Read more...

Other deep sky objects in Cygnus
All Constellations »  Cygnus »  Deep Sky Objects » 

NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus

Altitude: 75.4°   Azimuth: 45.4°   Direction: North-East

NGC 6946 is a Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in the Cygnus constellation. NGC 6946 is situated close to the northern celestial pole and, as such, it is visible for most part of the year from the northern hemisphere.

NGC 6946
Galaxy
Cygnus

NGC 6946 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.

Altitude: 75.4°
Azimuth: 45.4°
Direction: North-East

See also NGC 6946 rise and set times.

Given its B magnitude of 10.5, NGC 6946 is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.

Available Resources for NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus

Photometric information of NGC 6946

The following table lists the magnitude of NGC 6946 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).

10.5
6.27
5.91
5.37

For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.

The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of NGC 6946.

23.73 mag/arcsec2

Apparent size of NGC 6946

The following table reports NGC 6946 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of NGC 6946 is a visual representation of it.
11.4 arcmin
10.84 arcmin
52°

Digitized Sky Survey image of NGC 6946

The image below is a photograph of NGC 6946 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.38x0.38 degrees (22.8x22.8 arcmins).

Image of NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus star
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DSS2 image of NGC 6946 in the Red band. The green region on the image is a representation of the major (11.4 arcmin) and minor (10.84 arcmin) axes of the object's apparent size.

NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus morphological classification

NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus is classified as Intermediate Spiral (SABc) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.

NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus
Visualization of the morphological classification of NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus, Intermediate Spiral (SABc).
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY

Celestial coordinates and finder chart of NGC 6946

Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of NGC 6946 are provided in the following table:

20h 34m 51s
+60° 09’ 14”

The simplified sky charts below show the position of NGC 6946 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.

Finder chart NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus.

Finder chart NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus star
Simplified finder chart for NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus.

Rise ans set times of NGC 6946 from your location

Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London

NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus is circumpolar and transits at 03:18 UTC (altitude: 81.3°)