Two galaxies just beyond the Local Group, discovered by the Italian astronomer Paolo Maffei (1926–2009) in 1968. Both lie about 10 million l.y. away in Cassiopeia, near the border with Perseus, and are heavily obscured by dust in the plane of our Galaxy. Maffei 1 is a lenticular or elliptical galaxy and Maffei 2 a barred spiral. They belong to a group of at least a dozen members which includes the spiral galaxy IC 342, Dwingeloo 1 (see Dwingeloo Galaxy), and two probable companions to Maffei 1: MB 1, a late-type spiral, and MB 2, a dwarf irregular galaxy.

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3463-sig10-025-Maffei-2-The-Hidden-Galaxy