2 NEW POSSIBLE MEMBERS OF THE IC-342-MAFFEI-1 2 GROUP OF GALAXIES/

We report the detection of two nearby galaxies in Cassiopeia in HI. Th eir low heliocentric velocities, 35 +/- 2 and 112 +/- 5 kms(-1), sugge st they are members of the IC342 - Maffei group. The smaller object (G as 1) has been classified optically as an irregular dwarf. An HI linew idth of 49 kms(-1) and a nearly gaussian shape of the profile support the classification. Its HI mass (at an assumed distance of 3 Mpc) is 1 10(8) M.. The larger galaxy (Gas 2) has an HI mass of 3.7 10(8) M. (s ame distance) and a linewidth (at half power) of 204 kms(-1) which cor responds to a rotational velocity (after correction for inclination, i similar to 65 degrees) of about 112 km s(-1). This is a galaxy roughl y of the mass of M 33. This galaxy has been discovered independently b y another group with the Dwingeloo telescope (Kraan-Korteweg et al. 19 94). Our search was based on an optical survey for galaxies in the Gal actic Plane (see Seeberger et al. 1994) and included 10 objects from t he neighborhood of IC 342 and Maffei 1/2. The other detected galaxies are background objects.