These 126 NGC and IC nebulae were discovered by eye, not by photography. Nebuale in the LMC and SMC are not included.
The list includes the discoverer's name and the year found as well as the size and type of telescope used.
It also includes the constellation and Messier number if any.
William and John Herschel found most of these followed by Espin and Barnard.
It is easy to make lists of globular clusters, planetary nebulae and galaxies because we have magnitudes, sizes and plenty of data.
Open clusters are more difficult because you can't tell what they are like just by looking at magnitudes and sizes. The hardest job is making a list of nebulae because there are no magnitudes.
These are the biggest nebulae in the SAC catalogue. The size is given in arc-minutes.
OBJECT SIZE_MAX
Sh2-312 720 m, part of Gum nebula?
Sh2-276 600 m, Barnard's Loop
Gum 12 264 m, Gum nebula
NGC 6960 210 m, Veil nebula
Sh2-240 200 m, Simeis 147
IC 353 180 m
IC 360 180 m
IC 2118 180 m
RCW 59 180 m
NGC 1499 160 m
Sh2- 1 150 m
Ced 122 144 m
NGC 3372 120 m
NGC 6334 120 m
Sh2- 91 120 m
NGC 7000 120 m
M 45 100 m
M 42 90 m
IC 434 90 m
IC 4628 90 m
NGC 6533 90 m
IC 1396 89 m
vdB 107 85 m
Sh2-205 80 m
NGC 2238 80 m
NGC 2237 80 m
NGC 2246 80 m
NGC 6727 80 m
IC 2948 75 m
For more information on Sh2 objects see http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/sharpless.py?s=1
For more information on RCW objects see http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/rcw.py?s=1
All of these nebulae were found by the Herschels with an 18" reflector except NGC 7380.
They should all be visible in an 16", maybe even a 12". It would make an interesting observing project.
Cat Num Discoverer Con
IC 434 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 896 Herschel W. CAS (north of dec +50)
NGC 1491 Herschel W. PER (north of dec +50)
NGC 1579 Herschel W. PER
NGC 1624 Herschel W. PER
NGC 1788 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 1893 Herschel J. AUR
NGC 1909 Herschel W. ERI
NGC 1931 Herschel W. AUR
NGC 1977 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 1980 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 1985 Herschel W. AUR
NGC 1990 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 1999 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 2023 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 2024 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 2071 Herschel W. ORI
NGC 2167 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2170 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2182 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2185 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2245 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2261 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2264 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2316 Herschel W. MON
NGC 2327 Herschel W. CMA
NGC 2359 Herschel W. CMA
NGC 2467 Herschel W. PUP
NGC 2626 Herschel J. VEL
NGC 2736 Herschel J. VEL
NGC 3503 Herschel J. CAR
NGC 3581 Herschel J. CAR
NGC 3603 Herschel J. CAR
NGC 5367 Herschel J. CEN
NGC 6164 Herschel J. NOR
NGC 6188 Herschel J. ARA
NGC 6334 Herschel J. SCO
NGC 6357 Herschel J. SCO
NGC 6526 Herschel W. SGR
NGC 6533 Herschel W. SGR
NGC 6559 Herschel J. SGR
NGC 6595 Herschel J. SGR
NGC 6823 Herschel W. VUL
NGC 6847 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6857 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6888 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6960 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6979 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6992 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 6995 Herschel J. CYG
NGC 7000 Herschel W. CYG
NGC 7023 Herschel W. CEP (north of dec +50)
NGC 7129 Herschel W. CEP (north of dec +50)
NGC 7380 Herschel C. CEP (OC found with a 4.2") (north of dec +50)
NGC 7538 Herschel W. CEP (north of dec +50)
NGC 7635 Herschel W. CAS (north of dec +50)
NGC 7822 Herschel J. CEP (7822 is probably Ced 214, Herschel had the wrong position) (north of dec +50)
This is like a Google map of the Milky Way, you can see nebulae and their names.
Select H alpha/Stars and zoom in using: http://galaxymap.org/iras/iras.php
Hi Glen,
Thanks for mentioning the Milky Way Explorer!
For people in the southern hemisphere, there is also my SuperCOSMOS explorer, which has much more detailed hydrogen-alpha images within 10 degrees of the galactic plane (between 30 and 210 degrees in galactic longitude):
I have not combined this with the main Explorer application yet because there are some problems with plate calibration. I've tried various sophisticated mosaicking software packages like Swarp to no avail.
It's a shame that there are some obvious plate boundaries, but the images are still useful I think.
NGC 1990 next to Alnilam (eps Ori) in Orion's belt is an interesting challenge. Has anyone seen it? It is visible in the attached wikisky.org image and also in today's APOD. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima..._mutti_big.jpg
^^ I have tried that with my 12": dob, but got nothing. Looking at that pic, it appears to have an extremely low SB, perhaps lower than the likes of the WItch head and IC 434.
^^ it could possibly be seen with a 16" newt, but judging by deep images of the region, it appears much fainter than the IC 434 complex and nearly drowned out by the light of Alnilam so I'd image that one would need very dark skies to spot it (which in Herschel's time wouldn't have been difficult to come by!!).
Sue French describes it in the latest S&T, Feb 2011.
"Since it’s easy to imagine nebulous tendrils in the densely populated starfield interwoven with Simeis 147, I
only logged regions that were enhanced with a nebula filter. Using my 10-inch scope and a narrowband filter at 70×,
I could faintly see the area marked A on the image below. Three additional patches (B, C, and D) became visible with
my 15-inch reflector at 49× and 79×. A narrowband filter yielded a starry view with nebula fragments that seemed
a bit more structured. An O III view was darker, but with careful study, the boundaries of the pieces were better
defined. I found region B rather interesting as a vaguely rectilinear nebula with a dark center."
Area A is the bright bit near the top left in the APOD pic.
Area A is at RA 5h 43.3m dec +28d 18m and it is 3.8 degrees east of beta Tau.
The APOD shows some other nebulae.
NGC 2174 is an easy object, I can see it in my finder. IC 443 is very faint in my scope with a UHC filter.
This wide APOD image of NGC 1499, the California nebula, is good because it clearly shows the two bright parts that I can see with my scope.
It also shows NGC 1333 at top right. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111021.html
Interesting list of bright nebulae Glen, and I'll definitely peruse it for some more observing targets. I do wonder about the omission of most (but not all) LMC objects - you include the Tarantula and NGC346 I see. Surely the nebuolous patches including NGC2032, NGC 1769 (Bean), NGC2014, NGC1937, NGC2074, NGC2078, several other LMC patches, and perhaps NGC371 from the SMC would all be bright enough to go in your list. They're all brighter than any of the Auriga nebulae in a telescope, and I say this as a new arrival from the north!
Clearly having so many LMC nebulae might unbalance the list somewhat, but it depends if your list is meant to be the 50 brightest nebulae, or a representative sample of 50 bright nebulae from across the sky?
You'd never succeed in a true north-south balance for bright nebulae - all the good ones have south declinations!
Thanks Joshua and Andy. I usually start my SMC observations with NGC 346 and sweep all of the SMC usually with a UHC filter. Then I start my LMC observations with NGC 2070 and do the same with the LMC. They both contain heaps of great nebulae. I was not trying to make a list of the 50 brightest nebulae because the LMC would dominate it.
Thanks for the reply Glen, I suspected that was the reason. I saw that John Bambury's great list is also a little light on LMC objects, I suspect for the same reason. It really is a different beast, the LMC!
