NGC6946 on the border of Cygnus and Cepheus. NGC6946 is almost overhead at my latitude around the end of August, which is the main reason why I call it the end-of-the-holiday galaxy. It hardly gets dark here in Holland between the end of May and the beginning of August, hence the appearance of NGC6946 marks the beginning of a new observing season.

NGC6946 was discovered by William Herschel on September 9, 1798. It lies at a distance of 10 million lightyears. In spite of the fact that most of the light from this galaxy is blocked by the dustclouds of our own galaxy. At my location NGC6946 is a visual object for a 6" telescope.

EXPOSURE DATA: L = 120 * 60s R-G-B = 80-80-80 * 30s (binned 2x2); taken on 2020 09 13 and 2008 08 07; North is up; Equipment: GSO 200/1200 newton on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-pro equatorial mount; ZWO ASI 183MM pro camera; Manual filter wheel with Baader LRGB filters; Image capture by SIPS, guided by PHD 2 through a Sky-Watcher 70/900 refractor with a ZWO ASI 224MC camera.

EXPOSURE DATA: L = 27 * 240s R-G-B = 22-22-28 * 180s (binned 2x2); taken on 2008 07 04 and 2008 07 25; North is to the right; Equipment: Celestron C8 8" f/10 SCT on a Vixen GP-DX equatorial mount, driven by GotoStar motors/controller; ATiK 16HR CCD camera with Baader Alan Gee focal reducer resulting in an effective focal distance of 1700mm; Atik manual filter wheel with Astronomik LRGB filters; Image capture and telescope guiding by AstroArt 4, guided through a Celestron Radial Guider with a Orion DSCI camera.

Below are two older exposures. The lower one is just a few weeks too early for the 2004 supernova that appeared in NGC6946. This was the first galaxy I photographed with the MX5-C. The difference between these three images reflects my learning-curve between August 2004 and July 2008.

EXPOSURE DATA: TAL 150 PM 150mm f/8 Newtonian telescope on a Vixen SP equatorial mount; Modified Starlight Xpress MX5-C CCD camera; 45 out of 50 unguided exposures of 60s each; Location The Hague, on the evening of August 30, 2005