A Supernova in NGC 6946-the Fireworks Galaxy
May 30, 2017
The Fireworks Galaxy takes its name because it is known for supernovae.
Ten supernovae have been recorded in this galaxy in the last century.
Now, there is a new one and I am excited to get an opportunity photograph an
actual supernova.
The image above was taken last year (2016) in November, from Ajo, AZ. This was taken at
700mm
focal length so the scale is a little different than the image below.
The Supernova, imaged on May 30, 2017. Here's a
LINK to read more about it. This supernova is about 22 million light years
from Earth, which is a good thing. A supernova closer than ~30 light years would
cause mass extinction of life on our planet.
I am amazed that I can capture this with a
500mm f4 camera lens in a galaxy 22 million light years away. Imagine the size
of this. All of the stars in the two images are in our galaxy. It is impossible
to resolve individual stars in a galaxy at this distance (well, maybe the Hubble
Space Telescope can, I don't know).
The supernova image was taken with a Canon 7D MII (H-alpha modded), 500mm focal
length, ISO 1600 @ f4, tracking with a Losmandy G11. Thirty-eight one minute exposures stacked in Images Plus, processed
in Images Plus and Photoshop.
Here are the same images above with tighter crops:
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