More than astrophotography, an astronomical exploration.
IC 342 - The Hidden Galaxy
David Cruz · Astromidnight
In Camelopardalis, a face-on spiral galaxy peers out from behind the dust and gas of our own Milky Way. The red dots along the arms are hydrogen clouds where stars are being born.
| Catalogue | Index Catalogue (1895) · IC 342 · UGC 2847 · Caldwell 5 |
| Type | Spiral galaxy |
| Distance | ≈ 11 million light-years |
| Field | 82.5′ × 54.7′ |
| Scale | 0.81″ / pixel |
| Orientation | 177° · south up |
| RA (centre) | 03h 48m 21s |
| DEC (centre) | +68° 11′ 34″ |
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Objects in field | IC 342 · KK 35 · 2 ULX · 2 background galaxies · HD 23662 |
Distance to IC 342 according to ESA/Hubble (≈ 11 million light-years), confirmed by the tip of the red giant branch method (3.45 Mpc, Wu et al. 2014). No real width: the field combines Milky Way stars, the IC 342 group and galaxies about 60 million light-years away. Distances to UGC 2826 and LEDA 166861 calculated from redshift (NED and SIMBAD), with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc. All positions come from SIMBAD coordinates; the AstroBin label for IC 342 sat slightly to the side of the core. The faint haze covering the background is galactic cirrus (IFN), dust in our galaxy lit by the stars of the Milky Way.
27 h 10 min of light
Each tick is one exposure. 380 in total, with the camera at −10 °C and gain 100. Calibrated with 30 darks, 30 flats and 30 bias. The Moon stayed below 35 % illumination throughout.
Carbon Newton 10' f/4
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Sky-Watcher CQ350 Pro
Askar M54 OAG · ZWO ASI120MM Mini
TS-Optics Maxfield .95X Coma Corrector
Player One Anti-Halo Pro Dual-Band Ha+OIII Filter 2"
Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
São Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Évora · 358 m
Bortle 3