by Ann » Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:59 am
This is a most remarkable galaxy and a most remarkable portrait of it. Robert Gendler is outstanding at processing images taken by large telescopes.
One thing I find very interesting about this galaxy is that it is apparently quite dusty. I don't have access to my software here, but I can remember that the colors of NGC 6946 are relatively red. This is partly caused by dust in our galaxy, but NGC 6946 is self-reddened by its own dust, too. Star formation produces dust, and the death throes of massive and even mid-sized stars cause copious amounts of dust. And there has been no shortage of such death throes in this galaxy. NGC 6946 has produced nine supernovae in less than a hundred years - compare that with the Milky Way whose latest supernova to be definitely seen and recorded by contemporary witnesses happened in 1604!
So this galaxy is choking with its own dust. However, a few places in the galaxy appear to be relatively dust free. Chief among them is an incredible
super star cluster in NGC 6946. In today's APOD, this cluster can be seen to the lower left of the yellow bulge of NHC 6946, looking like a light blue vaguely circular object. Do follow the link in today's APOD called
remarkable portrait of NGC 6946 to come to a page where you can read Robert Gendler's own description of this fantastic cluster. One thing is clear - this brilliant cluster of young stars is going to age as
a beautiful globular cluster.
In James D Wray's
The Color Atlas of Galaxies, where galaxies are photographed in UBV, NGC 6946 looks slightly dingy and dust-dirtened. But the super star cluster shines intensely blue, in spite of the foreground dust in our galaxy. Perhaps the ferocious stellar winds have blown away the dust in this particular part of NGC 6946.
And Robert Gendler's processing has lifted much of the rest of the dust from this galaxy, revealing its colorful splendour.
Ann
This is a most remarkable galaxy and a most remarkable portrait of it. Robert Gendler is outstanding at processing images taken by large telescopes.
One thing I find very interesting about this galaxy is that it is apparently quite dusty. I don't have access to my software here, but I can remember that the colors of NGC 6946 are relatively red. This is partly caused by dust in our galaxy, but NGC 6946 is self-reddened by its own dust, too. Star formation produces dust, and the death throes of massive and even mid-sized stars cause copious amounts of dust. And there has been no shortage of such death throes in this galaxy. NGC 6946 has produced nine supernovae in less than a hundred years - compare that with the Milky Way whose latest supernova to be definitely seen and recorded by contemporary witnesses happened in 1604!
So this galaxy is choking with its own dust. However, a few places in the galaxy appear to be relatively dust free. Chief among them is an incredible [url=http://www.projects.science.uu.nl/wwwstk/siu/people/N6946PC.GIF]super star cluster[/url] in NGC 6946. In today's APOD, this cluster can be seen to the lower left of the yellow bulge of NHC 6946, looking like a light blue vaguely circular object. Do follow the link in today's APOD called [url=http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC6946-Subaru-Gendler.html]remarkable portrait of NGC 6946[/url] to come to a page where you can read Robert Gendler's own description of this fantastic cluster. One thing is clear - this brilliant cluster of young stars is going to age as [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg/300px-A_Swarm_of_Ancient_Stars_-_GPN-2000-000930.jpg]a beautiful globular cluster[/url].
In James D Wray's [i]The Color Atlas of Galaxies[/i], where galaxies are photographed in UBV, NGC 6946 looks slightly dingy and dust-dirtened. But the super star cluster shines intensely blue, in spite of the foreground dust in our galaxy. Perhaps the ferocious stellar winds have blown away the dust in this particular part of NGC 6946.
And Robert Gendler's processing has lifted much of the rest of the dust from this galaxy, revealing its colorful splendour.
Ann