The IC 342/Maffei Group (also known as the IC 342 Group or the Maffei 1 Group) is the nearest group of galaxies to the Local Group. The group is one of many located within the Virgo Supercluster (i.e. the Local Supercluster). The Maffei group is a famous nearby group of galaxies even though most of the galaxies in the group have only been discovered in the past twenty years. A lot of the galaxies in this group lie directly behind the plane of our galaxy and are hidden by all the intervening gas, dust and stars. (For further details see The Maffei Group.)