De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SAB(rs)cd

Filter: B

Telescope: KPNO 0.6/0.9-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 34.5 x 31.8 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SAB(rs)cd
RSA Type: -----
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 17.8-27.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -20.7
Elmegreen Spiral Arm Class: AC 9

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

IC 342 is one of the dominant members of the nearby IC 342 /Maffei Group (Buta and McCall 1999; Karachentsev et al. 2003; Huchtmeier et al. 2001). It is a very good face-on example of an Scd spiral, characterized by strong spiral structure and a very bright nucleus. Although bright, the nucleus is the site of a well-known starburst and cannot be thought of as an ordinary bulge. A bright inner disk surrounding this region gives the impression of a larger bulge. The galaxy suffers 3 mag of B-band extinction (McCall 1989), and is well-studied for its Cepheids (Madore and Freedman 1992) and its local environment (Buta and McCall 1999). The bar referred to in the classification is a large inner oval oriented northwest-southeast. The inner pseudoring is a very weak feature that is partially related to this oval.