IC 342 / Caldwell 5

Type: Spiral galaxy showing a central region with active star formation / Distance ~ 7 MLy / Visual Brightness: 8.4 mag

Inset: 3x Zoom of the central region & matched overlay of a carbon monoxide (CO) abundance heat map measured by the SOFIA telescope (airborne telescope hosted by a Boeing 747SP).

CO-map taken from: M. Röllig et al., A&A 591 A33 (2016), DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201526267

The high abundance of molecular gas like CO is supposed to be related to intense star formation in the central region of this galaxy.

Date: February 20-th, 2023 / Moon: 1%

Equipment: Stellina 80/400, 850x10s (2h 22min), 65x10s darks, stacked: APP, postproc.: TOPAZ Denoise, Affinity Photo, FITSwork