Photo of the Week for December 16, 2016
Camelopardalis has been described as the absence of a constellation. Little wonder—its brightest star (Beta Camelopardalis) shines at a feeble magnitude 4. But as if to prove there are no unremarkable regions of sky, Camelopardalis is home to the picturesque face-on galaxy, IC342. As striking as it appears in the photo above, the spiral would be even more impressive if it were located elsewhere. The galaxy is positioned only 10 degrees above the Milky Way’s equator, which means we view IC342 through a foreground veil of dust and gas.
Quebec astrophotographer Denis Marquis captured this portrait of IC342 with a total exposure of two hours at ISO 6400, made with a Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera fitted to a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope working at f/10.
