IC 342 (Caldwell C5)

**IC 342 (Caldwell C5)** — a large spiral galaxy of type SA(s)cd in the constellation Camelopardalis, located 11 million light-years away. The galaxy's integrated brightness (~8.4 mag) is spread over a large area, so its average surface brightness is only ~14.9–15.5 mag/arcmin². Galactic extinction: IC 342 is projected close to the plane of the Milky Way. Interstellar dust in our Galaxy absorbs its light, dimming it by a further 2.4 magnitudes and shifting its spectrum toward the red. For me, this project turned out to be difficult for several reasons (besides the difficulty of the object itself to photograph). 1. First time stacking broadband data from a mono sensor. 2. First time trying pixel math. 3. There were problems with "light leak." I fought it as best I could, but never fully resolved the issue. I really wanted to bring out the faint dust of our galaxy, but the flip side was noise. L channel captured on 11.04.2026 RGBHa captured on 15-16.09.2026