                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 February 11

                 IC 342: The Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Feller

   Explanation: 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 and reddened by
   intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces the
   galaxy's own obscuring dust, young 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.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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