Dear DSF,
I was under the impression that IC 342 is this extremely faint galaxy where all you can detect is the faint glow; and despite its being a beautiful grand spiral, the obscuring effect of the milky way renders it a low surface brightness meaningless smudge.
But I was proven wrong today when averted vision told me that there was something fuzzy outside the core that looked like a knot in the arm. Thereafter, my friend Hemant and I pulled up a DSS image and observed several knots in his 5" Takahashi refractor and my 18" f/4.5 Obsession dob. The best views for me were on the dob using a 20mm Pentax XW, although my friend liked the feel in his telescope (which has excellent contrast) better.
I'm sharing my observations (from Okie-Tex star party) made a few hours ago here, and I request those who have managed to see some spiral structure in IC342 to share their observations as well (Observations of knots in NGC 6946 are also invited!).
Here is an annotated DSS image, which the text will refer to:
IC342.jpg
26mm UO HD Ortho (~80x): knot #1 detected first, then checked against DSS. Couldn't resolve into two nebulae. Knot #2 seen after looking at the DSS image.
20mm Pentax XW (~100x): Arm #1 is visible as an arm, and resolves into knots. If my memory is right, all 4 knots are resolved. Knot #2 is much more clear, and connects up with knot #3 to give a sensation of arm #3.
In some particular eyepiece (I think it was 10mm Delos: ~200x), knot #3 was nicely seen.
16mm UO Super Abbe ortho (~128x): Arm #2 felt, but hard to confirm due to the presence of bright stars.
Clear Skies!
Regards
Akarsh
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