NGC 6946

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6946

(= H IV.76

= Caldwell 12),

type Sc,

in Cepheus

Right Ascension	20 : 34.8 (h:m)
Declination	+60 : 09 (deg:m)
Distance	10,000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	8.9 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	11 x 10 (arc min)

8.9-mag NGC 6946 was discovered by

William Herschel.

NGC 6946 is a rather nearby spiral galaxy, which at one time was suspected

to be an outlying member of the

Local Group.

It is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the

Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to

the galactic plane.

With the number of six supernovae which have been found in this galaxy,

NGC 6946 is leading the statistics, perhaps together with

M83.

In the SAC 110 best NGC object list.

No. 108 in the RASC Finest NGC Objects list.

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected])

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 29 Mar 1998, 12:20 MET