The Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946)
spitzer_sig08-008 June 23rd, 2008
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (U. of Ariz./Inst. of Astr., U. of Cambridge) and the SINGS Team
NGC 6946, or "The Fireworks Galaxy", is one of about a dozen nearby neighbors to the Milky Way. It is located approximately 10 million light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. This image was captured as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) Legacy Project using the telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC).
The "glowing" red emission reveals regions in the galaxy that are actively forming new stars. The blue dots sprinkled along this image are Milky Way stars along this line of sight.
The SINGS image is a four channel false color composite, where blue indicates emission at 3.6 microns, green corresponds to 4.5 microns, and red to 5.8 and 8.0 microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) in this picture has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8 micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features.
Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope
Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2078-sig08-008-The-Fireworks-Galaxy-NGC-6946-
Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: Public Domain
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Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- sig08-008
- Subject Category
- C.5.1.1.
- Subject Name
- Fireworks Galaxy, NGC 6946
- Credits
- NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (U. of Ariz./Inst. of Astr., U. of Cambridge) and the SINGS Team
- Release Date
- 2008-06-23
- Lightyears
- 18,000,000
- Redshift
- 0.00016
- Reference Url
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2078-sig08-008-The-Fireworks-Galaxy-NGC-6946-
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Distance from fast facts;NED
- Facility
- Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer, Spitzer
- Instrument
- IRAC, IRAC, IRAC, IRAC
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Green, Orange, Red
- Band
- Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
- Bandpass
- Near-IR, Near-IR, Mid-IR, Mid-IR
- Central Wavelength
- 3600, 4500, 5800, 8000
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- 2144., 2144., 2144., 2144.
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 308.71792558912324, 60.154339214321304
- Reference Dimension
- 954, 1423
- Reference Pixel
- 477, 711.5
- Scale
- -0.00020811071391397163, 0.00020811071391397163
- Rotation
- 394.91294996
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- Spitzer Space Telescope
- URL
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- 1200 E. California Blvd.
- City
- Pasadena
- State/Province
- CA
- Postal Code
- 91125
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Publisher
- Spitzer Science Center
- Publisher ID
- spitzer
- Resource ID
- sig08-008.tif
- Resource URL
- http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/uploaded_files/images/0001/4301/sig08-008.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2011-09-02
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
