Based on the CCD photometry of the brightest stellar population in the galaxies
UGCA 105, UGCA 92, UGCA 86, NGC 1569, and Cas 1, we determined their distances to be
in the range of 
. A comparison of new distance estimates
with older ones (Tikhonov et al. 1992; Karachentsev &
Tikhonov 1993; Karachentsev et al. 1994) does not
reveal a significant difference: 
. The mean square difference of the modulis for the
two independent sequences of measurements is 
,
which corresponds to a standard error 
. This value is consistent with the result of the analysis by
Karachentsev & Tikhonov (1994), i.e.
, based on the membership of galaxies in the nearby
groups. The present estimate looks less pessimistic than the conclusion by
Rozanski & Rowan-Robinson (1994), who considered predominantly the data of
old photographic photometry.
The existing data on a distance of IC 342 and surrounding neighbours (see Col. 7 in Table 7 (click here)) does not allow yet to reach a conclusion concerning the spatial structure of the complex of galaxies. We may argue that only the pair of NGC 1569 + UGCA 92 is in the foreground of the complex. The other dwarf objects UGCA 86, NGC 1560, Cam B, and UGCA 105 are probably associated with the massive spiral IC 342, whereas Maffei 1+2 represents a second subcenter of the common extended group with a total dimension of about 1 Mpc. The situation here recalls that in another nearby "group'' in Sculptor, seen also in the Supergalactic plane, where the pair of galaxies NGC 55 + NGC 300 is projected into a triple system, NGC 253 + NGC 247 + PGC 2902. An application of the virial theorem to estimate the mass of such false groups usually leads to a significant overestimation of their mass.
Acknowledgements
This work is partially supported by INTAS-RFBR grant N 95-IN-RU-1390.