Editing IC 342/Maffei Group (section)

==Group formation and possible interactions with the Local Group==

Since the IC 342/Maffei Group and the [[Local Group]] are located physically close to each other, the two groups may have influenced each other's evolution during the early stages of galaxy formation.  An analysis of the velocities and distances to the IC 342/Maffei Group as measured by M. J. Valtonen and collaborators suggested that [[IC 342]] and [[Maffei 1]] were moving faster than what could be accounted for in the expansion of the universe.  They therefore suggested that IC 342 and Maffei 1 were ejected from the Local Group after a violent gravitational interaction with the [[Andromeda Galaxy]] during the early stages of the formation of the two groups.<ref name="valtonenetal1993">{{cite journal
  |author1=M. J. Valtonen |author2=G. G. Byrd |author3=M. L. McCall |author4=K. A. Innanen | title=A revised history of the Local Group and a generalized method of timing
  | journal=Astronomical Journal
  | date=1993
  | volume=105
  | pages=886–893
  | bibcode=1993AJ....105..886V | doi = 10.1086/116480
}}</ref>

However, this interpretation is dependent on the distances measured to the galaxies in the group, which in turn is dependent on accurately measuring the degree to which [[interstellar dust]] in the [[Milky Way]] obscures the group.<ref name="butamccall1999" /><ref name="fingerhutetal2006">{{cite journal
  |author1=R. L. Fingerhut |author2=H. Lee |author3=M. L. McCall |author4=M. G. Richer | title = The Extinction and Distance of Maffei 2 and a New View of the IC 342/Maffei Group
  | year = 2007
  | journal = Astrophysical Journal
  |volume=655 |issue=2 |pages=814–830 |arxiv=astro-ph/0610044
|bibcode = 2007ApJ...655..814F |doi = 10.1086/509862 |s2cid=18405597 }}</ref>  More recent observations have demonstrated that the dust obscuration may have been previously overestimated, so the distances may have been underestimated.  If these new distance measurements are correct, then the galaxies in the IC 342/Maffei Group appear to be moving at the rate expected from the expansion of the universe, and the scenario of a collision between the IC 342/Maffei Group and the Local Group would be implausible.<ref name="fingerhutetal2006" />