The Hidden Galaxy

The Hidden Galaxy (IC 342) is located in the constellation Camelopardalis, about 11 million light-years from Willingboro, NJ. It has a radius of about 35, 000 light years.

It is known as the "Hidden Galaxy" because it lies behind thick interstellar dust clouds of the Milky Way. There are also a high number of Milky Way stars and other gases that help to obscure our view of IC 342. And it is also very close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way (with a latitude of just 10.5 degrees from the galactic equator), which limits our visibility even more.

If the cosmos between Earth and IC 342 wasn’t so busy and full of matter, the Hidden Galaxy would be one of the brightest galaxies in our sky and undoubtedly would have been discovered earlier than 1892, and probably would have been found during Charles Messier’s era and be part of the Messier Catalog.

IC 342 for website.jpg

The Hidden Galaxy (IC 342) as seen from Willingboro, NJ on the nights of February 3 and 4, 2024, beginning about 7:15 pm EST on February 3 and 7:20 pm EST on February 4. Each night consisted of 40, 3 minute exposures. This was my first attempt at multiple night exposures
Celestron Edge 9.25 on a Celestron CGX Mount
ASI294MC Pro Camera
PHD2 Autoguiding with an ASI174MM Camera
80, 3 minute exposures
Stacked and Processed in Pixinsight