A colourful couple: Fireworks galaxy and Open Star Cluster NGC 6939

This is an image of the Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946) next to the open star cluster NGC 6939 taken from Lötschental (Wallis) with a 15cm aperture telescope that our students are using in their Astronomy Practicum. The Fireworks galaxy is 25 Million light-years away showing prominent purple regions of high star-formation. The star cluster is much closer at about 4000 light-years. It features both blue and red stars which is a sign of its advanced age. Some of the bright red stars are at the end of their lives and will soon explode as a supernovae.
by Aurel Schneider