Low Surface Brightness Galaxy IC342

Object Data
Description	IC342 is a close and very large but extraordinary faint galaxy at the western edge of Camelopardalis. Although the galaxy has a visual diameter greater than 20 arc minutes, even a relatively large amateur telescope will reveal only a small central nucleus. It is positioned near the Milky Way such that a large number of stars are distributed in the surrounding area, but it is not visually obscured by any of our galaxy's dust veins. It is a nearby member of our own local group, but it is so dim that it carries neither a Messier number nor an NGC designation. There is some evidence that low surface brightness galaxies such as this one lie undetected all around us and that they may actually outnumber the bright visible galaxies we have grown so fond of viewing.
Constellation	Camelopardalis the Giraffe
Right Ascension	3h 47m 7s
Declination	+68° 6' 18"
Magnitude	9.1
Angular size	20.9 arcminutes
Distance	3.9 megaparsecs (13 million light years)
Radial Velocity	34 kilometers per second
Image Data
Photographer	Fred Lehman
Main Scope	Meade 12" LX200 @ f/5.0 (1525mm)
Guide Scope	Orion 120mm refractor @ f/3.75
Guide Camera	SBIG STV
Imaging Camera	Starlight Xpress MX7C
Resolution	752 x 580 @ 1.2 arcseconds per pixel
Exposure	Nine exposures of four minutes each. Aligned, stacked, and processed with AstroArt.
Date	March 24, 2003
Location	Area 51 in Big Cypress National Preserve in central South Florida.