#arp 29

On Earth we see NGC 6946, a SAB-type intermediate spiral galaxy, nearly face on. It is obscured by interstellar matter from the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane. In this image, the colours of the galaxy indicate the type of stars. The old stars in the core are yellowish while the blue stars are young and in clusters; the red areas are star forming regions. The galaxy is bright in infrared and rich in gas and dust as it has a high star formation rate. A suggested explanation for this high rate is the recent accretion of many primordial low-mass neutral hydrogen clouds from the surrounding region. At least nine supernovae have been discovered within NGC6946 over the past 100 years; the average rate for supernovae in the Milky Way is about 1 per century. -TEL http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110101.html; http://www.astropix.com/ Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, U. Arizon