THE REDDENING TO THE GALAXY IC-342 FROM CCD BV PHOTOMETRY OF ITS BRIGHTEST STARS

The intrinsic luminosity and distance to the low-galactic-latitude galaxy IC 342 have been a matter of some debate, largely due to the uncertainty in the estimates for the extinction. The dynamical influence of IC 342 on the Local Group may be more significant than has commonly been believed if a high reddening value and a low distance modulus to this galaxy is confirmed. In an effort to estimate the reddening independently for this galaxy, we have obtained CCD BV photometry for 117 stars brighter than V = 22.0 mag in a field centered near a spiral arm in IC 342. The plume of main sequence and slightly evolved blue supergiant stars is detected at V = 19.4 mag. However, the plume is centered at a color of (B-V) = 0.54 mag. A comparison with similar color-magnitude-diagram data for the brightest stars in IC 1613 suggests that these stars in IC 342 are reddened by E(B-V) = 0.79 +/- 0.05 mag (A(B) = 3.32 +/- 0.21 mag). This value is in good agreement with the similarly high values suggested by the Burstein-Heiles conversions of Galactic H I column density to color excess, and especially by the recent measurement of the Balmer decrement of H II regions by McCall.