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Has anyone here seen anything of the spiral arms in IC 342? What does it take aperture-, magnification-, and conditions-wise, and what exactly can be seen? I have so far been unsuccessful with my 12" SCT, trying from 55 to 375x. The field is rich and in fact there is a condensation of Milky Way stars, which looks like the galaxy in binoculars. With the telescope, however, only the core is seen, not a trace of even the (photographically) brightest fragments of the spiral arms.
My most recent log note for IC 342 from Feb. 2011:
30" f/4.5, Mason County, Texas, ~1500', Trans. 8/10, Seeing 4/10, 94x - 226x
Large, low surface brightness, face-on spriral. Bright core, surrounded by obvious nebulosity, but the arms are difficult to resolve. One arm, on the NW side, was held with averted. A second, opposite the first, was tantalizing in glimpses, but never really held.
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Over the years, the galaxy has been detectable in aperture as small as 4" ( TV 101, 32x, "Faintly nebulous, at the limit of detection."), but I've only seen spiral arm detail in the 25" or larger aperture.
The arms are not that obvious in my 25" telescope.
Thank you for your responses, gentlemen.
During a quick and dirty observation with 27" and 172x (AP 4mm) under very good transparency (NELM over 7mag) I roughly sketched three arms. The northern one was the longest and most prominent arm. I also noted "very faint, only partly visible". With 14,5" and 16" the galaxy was visible but without the spirals.