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  • Stargazing News - December 29th, 2024

    From CJ@21:2/156 to All on Sat Dec 28 07:29:38 2024
    Sunday December 29, 2024

    The Northerly Galaxy IC342 (all night)

    IC 342, also known as Caldwell 5, is a very large and nearly face-on spiral galaxy in western Camelopardalis. It's located about midway between the bright stars Mirfak and Polaris, only 37 arc-minutes southwest of the magnitude 6.3 star HIP18067. Although face-on spirals generally have low surface brightness, this magnitude 9.7 neighbour of the Milky Way, only 9-11 million light-years distant, has been seen in binoculars under very dark skies. Your small
    aperture telescope should show a small, round, and not overly bright, core.
    But a larger aperture instrument will show the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms extending at least 7 arc-minutes from the centre. Watch for a loose ring of 11th magnitude stars surrounding the halo, and a straight line of fainter stars just SW of the core.

    (Data courtesy of Starry Night
    --- SBBSecho 3.23-Linux
    * Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)