{{Short description|Spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis}} {{Infobox Galaxy | name = IC 342 | image = Euclid’s view of spiral galaxy IC 342 ESA25170723.jpg | caption = Euclid telescope image of the IC 342 galaxy | epoch = J2000 | ra = {{RA|03|46|48.5028}}<ref name="ned" /> | dec = {{DEC|+68|05|46.924}}<ref name="ned" /> | constellation name = Camelopardalis | z = 31 ± 3 km/s<ref name="ned" /> | dist_ly = 10.7 ± 0.9 Mly (3.3 ± 0.3 Mpc)<ref name="karachentsevetal2004">{{cite journal |author1=I. D. Karachentsev |author2=V. E. Karachentseva |author3=W. K. Hutchmeier |author4=D. I. Makarov | title=A Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies | journal=Astronomical Journal | date=2004 | volume=127 | issue=4 | pages=2031–2068 | bibcode=2004AJ....127.2031K | doi=10.1086/382905| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Karachentsevetal2006">{{cite journal |author1=Karachentsev, I. D. |author2=Kashibadze, O. G. | title=Masses of the local group and of the M81 group estimated from distortions in the local velocity field | journal=Astrophysics | date=2006 | volume=49 | issue=1 | pages=3–18 | bibcode=2006Ap.....49....3K | doi=10.1007/s10511-006-0002-6 |s2cid=120973010 }}</ref> | type = SAB(rs)cd<ref name="ned" /> | appmag_v = 9.1<ref name="ned" /> | size_v = 21.4{{prime}} × 20.9{{prime}}<ref name="ned" /> | size = ~150,000 ly (45.62 kpc) (estimated)<ref name="ned" /> | stars = 100 billion | notes = | names = {{odlist | UGC= 2847 | PGC= 13826 | C= 5 | CGCG= 305-002 | MCG= +11-05-003 | IRAS= 03419+6756}}<ref name="ned" /> }}
'''IC 342''' (also known as '''Caldwell 5''') is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location behind dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "'''The Hidden Galaxy'''",<ref name="Hubble's Hidden Galaxy">{{cite web|title=Hubble's Hidden Galaxy|url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1727a/|website=www.spacetelescope.org|access-date=3 July 2017|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220131824/https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1727a/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ned">{{cite web | title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database | work=Results for IC 342 | url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/ | access-date=2006-11-01 }}</ref> though it can readily be detected even with binoculars.<ref name="omeara">{{cite book | last=O'Meara | first=Stephen James | title=The Caldwell Objects | date=2002 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=0-933346-97-2 | pages=30–32 }}</ref> If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 million light-years (Mly)<ref name="apod">{{Cite APOD | title=Hidden Galaxy IC 342 | date=22 December 2010 |access-date=28 January 2013 }}</ref> to about 11 Mly.<ref name="karachentsevetal2004" /> The galaxy was discovered by William Frederick Denning in 1892.<ref>{{cite journal|title=New nebula|bibcode=1893AstAp..12..189D|author=Denning, W. F.|journal=Astronomy and Astro-Physics|date=1893|volume=12|page=189}}</ref> It is one of the brightest in the IC 342/Maffei Group, one of the closest galaxy groups to the Local Group. Edwin Hubble first thought it to be in the Local Group, but it was later determined not to be a member.<ref>SEDS [http://spider.seds.org/spider/LG/i0342.html IC 342]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102030726/http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/LG/i0342.html |date=January 2, 2007 }}</ref>
In 1935, Harlow Shapley found that it was wider than the full moon, and by angular size the third-largest spiral galaxy then known, smaller only than the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).<ref>Border Cities Star (Windsor, Ontario), [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OP8-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=oU0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5836,2330915 "Spiral Galaxy Third Biggest"], 24 June 1935, p.8</ref> (Modern estimates are more conservative, giving the apparent size as one-half to two-thirds the diameter of the full moon).<ref name="ned" /><ref name="omeara" />
It has an H II nucleus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCall |first1=Marshall L. |title=H II regions, extinction, and IC 342 - A new view of the galactic neighborhood |journal=The Astronomical Journal |date=May 1989 |volume=97 |pages=1341 |doi=10.1086/115077 |bibcode=1989AJ.....97.1341M }}</ref> In 2020, the galaxy KKH 32 was identified as the first known satellite of IC 342 that is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Unlike galaxies with large bulges such as the Andromeda Galaxy, IC 342 has relatively few dwarf satellite galaxies. KKH 32 is located about 10.2 million light-years (3.12 megaparsecs) away, and has a diameter of about 4,300 light-years (1.32 kiloparsecs).<ref name="Karachentsev2020">{{cite journal|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202037993|title=KKH 22, the first dwarf spheroidal satellite of IC 342|year=2020|last1=Karachentsev|first1=Igor D.|last2=Makarova|first2=Lidia N.|last3=Tully|first3=R. Brent|last4=Anand|first4=Gagandeep S.|last5=Rizzi|first5=Luca|last6=Shaya|first6=Edward J.|last7=Afanasiev|first7=Viktor L.|s2cid=218538458|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=638|pages=A111|arxiv=2005.03132|bibcode=2020A&A...638A.111K}}</ref>
thumb|Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of IC 342, showing the central star cluster and surrounding dust lanes.<ref name="Hubble's Hidden Galaxy" />
==See also== *NGC 6946 – similar galaxy heavily obscured by Milky Way stars and dust.
==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{commonscat}} * [http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101222.html NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day] – 22 December 2010 * [http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr07/pr0703.html IC 342 (image included)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524231256/http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr07/pr0703.html |date=2008-05-24 }} * {{WikiSky}}
{{Sky|03|46|48.5028|+|68|05|46.924|10700000}} {{Catalogs|IC=342|C=5|UGC=2847|PGC=13826}} {{Caldwell catalogue}} {{Camelopardalis}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:IC 342}} 18920819 IC 0342 IC 0342 IC 0342 0342 02847 13826 005b 03419+6756 +11-05-003