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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                               2026 January 8

                   IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Gaetan Maxant

   Explanation: Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our
   neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant toward
   the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling
   island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our
   night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through
   the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky
   Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed and reddened by
   intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces the
   galaxy's own obscuring dust, young star clusters, and glowing star
   forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core.
   IC 342 has undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is
   close enough to have influenced the evolution of the local group of
   galaxies and the Milky Way.

                  Tomorrow's picture: Sun dog vs. Earth dog
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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