Awesome Galaxy in Cepheus

I viewed NGC 6946 in Cepheus Saturday evening from Mt Pinos in my 16" and in another amateur's 25" dob and I was blown away by this object. This galaxy is roughly the same size as the whirpool but it appears more like m33 with distinct arms evident at high power. It nearly filled the field in my 10.5mm pentax xl eyepiece in my 16" f4.5 dob.
The observer's guide provides descriptions of the object at various apertures and, at magnitude 8.8, it can be seen in modest instruments.
For optimum views of this object, scopes of 16" or greater are needed to appreciate the spiral arms at higher powers.
I'd be interested in reading accounts from other amateurs regarding this object.

NGC 6946 is an excellent face-on spiral galaxy and forms a fine pair with the nearby open cluster NGC 6939. I've had many fine views of these two objects over the years, the last being several weeks ago through an 18" Obsession equiped with a Denkmeier binoviewer.

NGC 6949 has been the host galaxy for many supernovae including SN 2004et, a rather bright type type II supernova that occurred three years ago.

http://seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n6946.html

This supernova was bright enought to be seen with small apertures. Here's a report that I posted in October of 2004:

"I was able to log the recent supernova SN 2004et in NGC 6946 with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor on Sunday night from a sixth magnitude plus site using a 7mm Nagler Type 6 (77x). Seeing and transparency were only average.

The triangle of stars near the supernova was rather straightforward. SN 2004et was best seen with averted vision."

Dave Mitsky