Beautiful nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 could be more famous if it wasn't so hidden. A sprawling island universe , IC 342 would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky , but it is almost hidden from view behind the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy . Similar in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies IC 342 is a mere 7 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation of the Giraffe ( Camelopardalis ). Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds , this remarkably sharp telescopic image traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust , blue star clusters , and glowing pink star forming region s 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.
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Media Credits & Attribution
Credit & Copyright: T. Rector ( U. Alaska Anchorage ), H. Schweiker , WIYN , NOAO , AURA , NSF