A galaxy hidden in dust — IC 342

IC 342 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. It is located near the plane of the Milky Way and is hidden by its dust, which we wanted to emphasize during processing.

One of the reasons for choosing this particular galaxy is its size. It occupies 22′ × 22′ in the sky, which is comparable to 2/3 the size of the lunar disk. Our equipment ranges from a small refractor to a CDK14, and we chose a target that would look good with all of them.

The frame also contains many interesting background objects:

1) UGC 2826 and a pair of distant galaxy clusters at 1 and 8 o'clock from it. A little farther, at 4 o'clock, the galaxy PGC 166861 is visible.

2) A pair of galaxies participating in gravitational lensing. Our resolution and limiting magnitude were insufficient to resolve the lens itself, but at least we were able to capture the nuclei themselves.

3) PGC 165371, which has a rather amusing comma-like shape.

4) A ring galaxy that is visible through the arm of IC 342.

We are sure there are many more objects here, but these were the most noticeable.

Processing:
Oleg Stepansky and Vlad

Team:
- Oleg Stepansky — organization, processing, data acquisition
- Vlad — processing, data acquisition
- Grigory Vidishev — data acquisition
- Ivan — data acquisition
- Maxim — data acquisition
- Alexey — data acquisition