NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy) and NGC 6939

Constellation: Cepheus

Distance: 22 million light years (NGC 6946) and 6000 light years (NGC 6939)

An exercise in contemplating and contrasting distances in the universe. Two deep sky objects in one field of view. The rich open cluster NGC 6939 (to the left) is located in our galaxy and located about 6000 light years away; i.e., it took about 6000 years for its light to reach my camera. The light from NGC 6946, a distant galaxy, took about 22 million years.