IC 342, the Hidden galaxy

Constellation: Camelopardalis

IC 342, the Hidden galaxy is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in the constellation Camelopardalis.  It is the brightest galaxy in the IC 342/Maffei Group, one of the closest galaxy groups to the Local Group. It is about 7 to 11 million Ly away from earth. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location behind dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname “The Hidden Galaxy”. Link to interactive sky chart.

Deep imaging with the dual-band (Ha-Oiii) filter reveals not only the H-II regions in the galaxy, but also some of the fainter outer features not generally captured with shorter total integration times.

Telescope & Mount:

Celestron 9.25″ EdgeHD with Hyperstar 4.0 on a 10Micron GM1000HPS mount.

Imaging:

Camera: ASI2600MC-Pro (bin 1×1)

Data:
Antlia ALP-T Dual Band 5nm Highspeed: 1062x120s (for two panes)

Total integration time: 35h 24′