                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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                                2024 July 26

                               Facing NGC 6946
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni

   Explanation: From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC
   6946 face-on. The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20
   million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground dust and stars in
   the high and far-off constellation Cepheus. In this sharp telescopic
   portrait, from the core outward the galaxy's colors change from the
   yellowish light of old stars in the center to young blue star clusters
   and reddish star forming regions along the loose, fragmented spiral
   arms. NGC 6946 is also bright in infrared light and rich in gas and
   dust, exhibiting a high star birth and death rate. In fact, since the
   early 20th century ten confirmed supernovae, the death explosions of
   massive stars, were discovered in NGC 6946. Nearly 40,000 light-years
   across, NGC 6946 is also known as the Fireworks Galaxy.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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