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Caroline's galaxy
NGC 253
On 23 Sep 1783 Caroline Herschel discovered what turned out to be a galaxy, NGC 253, with a 4.2” reflector. It was the only galaxy that she found. All the galaxies found before NGC 253 were Messier objects except for a part of M51, NGC 5195, and the Magellan Clouds.
Her brother William Herschel was impressed and decided to search for nebulae and clusters. He discovered an amazing 2,138 galaxies with an 18.7” speculum reflector between 28 Oct 1783 and 30 Sep 1802, mostly from Slough, UK.
William’s son John discovered 1,150 galaxies between 6 Aug 1823 and 22 Jan 1838 with the same telescope from Slough, UK and Cape Town.
The attached image is from the ESO at La Silla, Chile
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