IC 342 is a face-on classic spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis. It lies near the Milky Way's galactic equator and is therefore found amidst a dense field of colorful Milky Way stars. However, the bigger issue is that it is greatly dimmed by obscuring dark dust in our galaxy rendering it very difficult to image, requiring very long exposure times. This has lead to the intriguing name of "The Hidden Galaxy". It lies only 7 million light-years from Earth and, despite its dim appearance, ranks as the third largest galaxy in the sky in terms of angular dimensions, surpassed only by M31 in Andromeda and M33 in Triangulum. It is rich in dust lanes and HII regions.

Telescope/Mount: PlaneWave CDK17 on L500 mount.

Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B = 900:520:165:155:155 minutes = 31 hours, 35 minutes total exposure, guided.