AstronomyPicture of the Day—20190118

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2019 January 18

IC342: The Hidden Galaxy

ImageCredit & Copyright: Arturas Medvedevas

Explanation:Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 isa mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northernconstellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 wouldotherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clearview and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along theplane of our own Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed andreddened by intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces thegalaxy's own obscuring dust, young star clusters, and glowing pink star formingregions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 may haveundergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to havegravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and theMilky Way.