Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak
Explanation:
Beautiful nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 could be more famous if it wasn't so hidden. A sprawling island universe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], IC 342 would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], but it is almost hidden from view behind the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Similar [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies IC 342 [ http://www.seds.org…] is a mere 7 million light-years [ http://starchild.gs…] distant in the long-necked, northern constellation of the Giraffe (Camelopardalis [ http://www.coldwate…camelopardalis.html ]). Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds [ http://www-ssg.sr.u…], this remarkably sharp telescopic image [ http://www.noao.edu…] traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], blue star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and glowing pink star forming region [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]s along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. IC 342 [ http://www.astro.sp…] may have undergone a recent burst [ http://arxiv.org/ab…] of star formation activity and is close enough [ http://seds.lpl.ari…maffei1g.html ] to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group [ http://seds.lpl.ari…] of galaxies and the Milky Way.
Credit and Copyright:
//www.noao.edu/image _gallery/copyright.h tml">Copyright: T. Rector [ http://salt.uaa.ala…] (U. Alaska Anchorage [ http://salt.uaa.ala…]), H. Schweiker [ http://www.admissio…], WIYN [ http://www.noao.edu…], NOAO [ http://www.noao.edu/], AURA [ http://www.aura-ast…], NSF [ http://www.nsf.gov/]
facet_where:
Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
Alaska
facet_where:
IC 342
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_what:
Aura
facet_what:
Camelopardalis
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap080109

Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak
Add To Workspace Export