Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Camelopardalis (Cam)  ·  Contains:  IC 342
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IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH, rhedden
IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH
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IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH, rhedden
IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH
Powered byPixInsight

IC-342 (Caldwell 5) LRGBH

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

IC-342, the Hidden Galaxy, is among the largest galaxies in the sky by angular size, ranking behind only M31 and M33.  However, it is obscured by dust such that its surface brightness is low.  Appearing in the northern constellation Camelopardalis, IC-342 shines at an overall magnitude of 12, despite spanning about 21 arcminutes.  One of the coolest aspects of this DSO is the tiny, isolated H-alpha emissions that appear detached from the galaxy, which actually lie in the extremities of the obscured spiral arms.

This image started off as an LRGB late-night project with my 4" refractor, but I decided that it would be better suited for a collaboration with longer integration time.  When I invited Andrew to start a collaboration, I already had about 5 hours of integration.  Little did I know that Andrew would chip in an incredible 25+ hours of data with his TS-Optics 130 mm refractor!  While Andrew was busy collecting a very deep H-alpha stack during the full moon, my LRGB gear was out of commission.  Then Andrew got a string of amazing clear nights while I got clouded out repeatedly.  In the end, I only contributed 10.5 hours of LRGB, so Andrew deserves most of the credit for this one!

Acquisition details:  Total integration time = 36 hours 8 minutes

Luminance: 5h 18 min with the Esprit 100ED and QHY268M; exposures of 60, 75, and 120 s, Mode 1, Gain 56; Baader LRGB filter set.  9h 5 min with the TS-Optics Photoline 130 mm and ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, Astronomik L3 filter.

RGB: 5h 5 min with the Esprit 100ED and QHY268M; Baader LRGB filters.  Exposures are 150 s in Mode 1, Gain 56.

H-alpha: 16h 40 min total with the TS-Optics Photoline 130 mm and ZWO ASI2600MM Pro, Chroma 8 nm H-a filter.  40x600” subs for 6h 40’, and 40x900” subs for 10h

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