The Hidden Galaxy

[Hughsie]

Located in the constellation Camelopardalis, IC 342 is a large intermediate spiral galaxy some 10 million light years away. Given its size and distance IC 342 should be nearly 2 magnitudes brighter but for its location relative to our own.

Only discovered in 1892 by William Denning, it is thought it avoided detection for so long because it is positioned in dusty areas near the galactic equator of our own Milky Way which made it difficult to observe. Viewing through this cosmic dust gives it the reddish brown hue.

IC 342 is thought to be undergoing further star formation with Hii regions visible in the core and the spiral arms.

 

 

[RobertI]

Nice image John, from what I recall of my EAA attempts, it is much dimmer than its size would suggest. The redness is clear as you say. 👍

Edited November 7, 2021 by RobertI

[AL1]

Lovely image.  Really provide prospective to how small we all are.

[Hughsie]

I have been revisiting some of my old data and reprocessing it using the new tools such as BlurXterminator and StarXterminator in PixInsight. 

So, here we go with IC 342 revisited. Amazing how much detail I left on the table the first time around.