IC 342 THE HIDDEN GALAXY
|(CLICK REFRESH ON YOUR BROWSER IF IT DOESN'T APPEAR)|
Equipment and exposition:
GSO RC 8"
ATIK 314L with Atik Filter USB wheel, Astronomik Filters 31,8
Guided with Orion ST 80 with Starshoot Autoguider
NEQ6 Geoptik Modded
4H bin 1x (L) 45min. bin 2x for each cannel (RGB)
SIte: Pragelato (L) / Fraiteve Mount (RGB) (2 nights)
About this object:
IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. The galaxy is located near the galactic equator where dust obscuration makes it a difficult object for both amateur and professional astronomers to observe.
IC 342 is one of the brightest two galaxies in the IC 342/Maffei Group of galaxies, one of the galaxy groups that is closest to the Local Group. The galaxy was discovered by William Frederick Denning in 1895. Edwin Hubble first thought it to be in the Local Group, but later it was demonstrated that the galaxy is outside the Local Group.
In 1935, Harlow Shapely declared that this galaxy was the third largest galaxy by angular size then known, smaller only than the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), being wider that the full moon. This does not take into account the visual size of the LMC or SMC.
Text from Nasa