Explanation:
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 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.
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