Camera: Finger Lakes Instrumentation MicroLine ML8300 with FLI CFW-2-7 Filter Wheel

Mount: Losmandy G-11 with Gemini

Scope: Astro Systemme Austria N8 Astrograph

Colors: L:R:G:B

Exposure Time: 120:60:60:60 minutes

Post-Production: MaxIm DL, CCDStack, PixInsight, and Photoshop CS5

Similar in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies, IC342 is a mere 7 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC342 would otherwise 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. Even though IC342's light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds, this beautiful 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. IC342 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. (description from APOD)