Hidden Galaxy IC
342
Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our
neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation
Camelopardalis.
A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the
veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy.
Even though IC 342's
light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds, this deep telescopic image traces the galaxy's obscuring dust, blue
star clusters, and glowing pink star forming regions along spiral arms that
wind far from the galaxy's core.
IC 342 may have
undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of
the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.
