10/14/2026
Another somewhat clear night last evening so I imaged C12 the Fireworks Galaxy once again. Just so you know how faint the objects I have been shooting are, here is one frame out of 811 which were stacked to make this image. More data = better resolution.
A spectacular spiral: octopus-like arms of stellar icy blue whipping around a glowing marmalade nucleus like water rushing toward a drain. This is Caldwell 12, a mid-sized spiral galaxy that resides on the border of the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus in our night sky. Caldwell 12’s beauty isn’t its only claim to fame. An unprecedented ten supernovae have been observed in the galaxy’s spiral arms since 1917, making it a popular object for both scientists and amateur astronomers alike. Unfortunately, its location (obscured behind lots of Milky Way dust) as well as its somewhat small size (about 50,000 light-years across) don’t do much to help its apparent luminosity (at magnitude 9.7). This means it can be particularly difficult to spot in the night sky, and when found, can often appear hazy rather than with stark, well-defined spiral arms.
