Messier and W & J Herschel

[glenc (Glen)]

Here are some photos I took this year in South Africa, London and Paris.
http://picasaweb.google.com/dunlop18...ierAndHerschel

Information on Charles Messier, William and John Herschel
and the SAAO can be found here:

Charles Messier (1730 - 1817)
http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/biograph.html

Hotel de Cluny
http://www.seds.org/messier/Xtra/history/cluny.html
http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/index.html

Friedrich William Herschel (1738 - 1822)
http://www.seds.org/messier/Xtra/Bios/wherschel.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel

St Laurence's Church, Slough
http://www.slough.gov.uk/mytown/articles/2235.asp

Herschel Society in Japan
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mononoke/ttnd...ish_index.html

John Herschel (1792-1871)
http://www.nndb.com/people/054/000086793/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Herschel

The Grove Primary School, Claremont, Cape Town.
http://www.geocities.com/wapenskild/GrovePS.html

William & John Herschel’s original catalogues (large files)
http://www.ngcic.org/Historical_Record/default.htm

The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO)
http://www.saao.ac.za/
The guy at the gate refused to let me in!

The SALT 11m telescope
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, with a hexagonal mirror array 11 metres across. Great place to visit.
http://www.salt.ac.za/

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

They are a terrific collection of photographs.
You must have being able to feel the history there. Knowing that maybe you stood in the same spot as Charles Messier or one of the Herschel's. Awe inspiring.

Thanks

[glenc (Glen)]

Yes, I enjoy feeling a bit of history, thanks jjjnettie.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I travelled through England, Wales and Scotland in '94. Had a historic points of interest book in my lap the entire time. The castles, Hadrians Wall, Stone Henge, etc etc.
Being a fan of "All Creatures Great and Small" I just had to track down anything related to the show as well.
I'd love to go back sometime.
Next time I'll be taking an interest of Astronomy with me as well.

[glenc (Glen)]

Tonights Messier Objects at midnight are:

Name Type Mag Size Con
M 1 SNR 8.4 8.0'x4.0' Tau
M 31 Galaxy 4.3 189.1'x61.7' And
M 32 Galaxy 9.1 8.5'x6.5' And
M 33 Galaxy 6.2 68.7'x41.6' Tri
M 34 Open cluster 5.2 35.0' Per
M 35 Open cluster 5.1 28.0' Gem
M 36 Open cluster 6.0 12.0' Aur
M 37 Open cluster 5.6 24.0' Aur
M 38 Open cluster 6.4 21.0' Aur
M 41 Open cluster 4.5 38.0' CMa
M 42 Bright nebula 4.0 90.0'x60.0' Ori
M 43 Bright nebula 9.0 20.0' Ori
M 44 Open cluster 3.1 95.0' Cnc
M 46 Open cluster 6.1 27.0' Pup
M 47 Open cluster 4.4 30.0' Pup
M 48 Open cluster 5.8 54.0' Hya
M 50 Open cluster 5.9 16.0' Mon
M 67 Open cluster 6.9 30.0' Cnc
M 74 Galaxy 9.8 10.0'x9.4' Psc
M 77 Galaxy 9.7 7.3'x6.3' Cet
M 78 Bright nebula 8.0 8.0' Ori
M 79 Globular cluster 7.7 7.8' Lep
M 93 Open cluster 6.2 22.0' Pup
M 95 Galaxy 10.6 7.3'x4.4' Leo
M 96 Galaxy 10.1 7.8'x5.2' Leo
M 105 Galaxy 10.5 5.3'x4.8' Leo
M 110 Galaxy 8.9 19.5'x11.5' And

Reference SkyMapPro

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Thx for the heads up.

[glenc (Glen)]

Sir John Herschel found these 11 nebulae using an 18.5" scope from Cape Town in 1834-38. They are all visible in a 10" or 12" scope, the faintest are NGC 3503 and NGC 6164. He also found many nebulae in the LMC.

NGC Const Type RA 2000 declination Size
2579 Pup Neb 08h 20m 53.0s -36º 13' 02" 10'
2626 Vel Neb 08h 35m 31.0s -40º 40' 20" 5'X5'
2736 Vel Neb 09h 00m 16.9s -45º 56' 53" 30.0'X7.0'
3503 Car Neb 11h 01m 17.3s -59º 50' 50" 3'X3'
3581 Car Neb 11h 12m 01.9s -61º 18' 06" …
5367 Cen Neb 13h 57m 43.8s -39º 58' 42" 13'x8'
6164 Nor Neb 16h 33m 41.6s -48º 04' 46" 1.0'X0.3'
6188 Ara Neb 16h 40m 05.8s -48º 39' 44" 20'X12'
6334 Sco Neb 17h 20m 49.7s -36º 06' 10" 35'X20'
6357 Sco Neb 17h 24m 43.5s -34º 12' 05" 35'?
6559 Sgr Neb 18h 09m 56.8s -24º 06' 23" 15'X10'

Reference Bob Erdmann
http://www.ngcic.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm

Images are at:
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/dss_ngc.asp
see NGC 2579 below.

[glenc (Glen)]

Sir John Herschel found these 17 planetary nebulae using an 18.5" scope from Cape Town in 1834-38.
The brightest are N3918 and N3132.

NGC Const Type Vmag Size RA(2000) DEC(2000)
2452 Pup PN 12 31"X24" 07h 47m 26.1s -27º 20' 08"
2792 Vel PN 11.6 13"X13" 09h 12m 26.5s -42º 25' 41"
2867 Car PN 9.7 12.0" 09h 21m 25.3s -58º 18' 42"
2899 Vel PN 11.8 120" 09h 27m 02.9s -56º 06' 21"
3132 Vel PN 9.2 84"X53" 10h 07m 01.4s -40º 26' 11"
3195 Cha PN 11.6 40"X30" 10h 09m 21.1s -80º 51' 30"
3211 Car PN 10.7 14" 10h 17m 50.4s -62º 40' 14"
3699 Cen PN 11.3 70" 11h 27m 58.1s -59º 57' 37"
3918 Cen PN 8.1 13" 11h 50m 17.8s -57º 10' 56"
4071 Mus PN 13 1.3' 12h 04m 15.3s -67º 18' 35"
5307 Cen PN 11.2 0.5' 13h 51m 03.1s -51º 12' 20"
5844 TrA PN … 2.0'x1.2' 15h 10m 40.7s -64º 40' 24"
5882 Lup PN 9.4 0.33' 15h 16m 49.9s -45º 38' 57"
5979 TrA PN 11.5 0.3' 15h 47m 41.1s -61º 13' 04"
6026 Lup PN 12.9 54"X36" 16h 01m 21.1s -34º 32' 37"
6072 Sco PN 11.7 70"X70" 16h 12m 58.1s -36º 13' 48"
6337 Sco PN 12.3 49"X45" 17h 22m 15.6s -38º 29' 02"

Reference Bob Erdmann
http://www.ngcic.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm

[glenc (Glen)]

Sir John Herschel found these 5 globular clusters using an 18.5" scope from Cape Town in 1834-38. John also found some GC in the LMC & SMC. The brightest in this list is N6558 which is only 43' east of the GC N6569.
Lacaille and Dunlop had already discovered nearly all of the southern globulars.

NGC Const Type Vmag Size RA(2000) DEC(2000)
1049 For GC 12.6 0.8' 02h 39m 48.1s -34º 15' 30"
6325 Oph GC 10.2 4.3' 17h 17m 59.2s -23º 45' 57"
6380 Sco GC 11.5 3.9' 17h 34m 28.3s -39º 04' 11"
6453 Sco GC 10.2 3.5' 17h 50m 51.6s -34º 35' 55"
6558 Sgr GC 8.6 3.7' 18h 10m 18.3s -31º 45' 49"

Reference Bob Erdmann
http://www.ngcic.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm

[glenc (Glen)]

Sir John Herschel found 793 Galaxies south of declination -20 degrees using an 18.5" scope from Cape Town in 1834-38.
The 12 brightest were:

NGC Const Type Vmag SB Size RA(2000) DEC(2000)
1326 For Gxy 10.5 13 3.9'X2.9' 03h 23m 56.3s -36º 27' 53"
1340 For Gxy 10.5 13.1 4.6'X2.9' 03h 28m 19.7s -31º 04' 07"
1404 For Gxy 10.2 12.6 3.3'X3.0' 03h 38m 51.9s -35º 35' 35"
2217 CMa Gxy 10.4 13.5 4.5'X4.2' 06h 21m 39.7s -27º 14' 04"
2442 Vol Gxy 10.5 14 6.0'X5.5' 07h 36m 19.7s -69º 32' 31"
2443 Vol Gxy 10.4 13.9 6.0'X5.5' 07h 36m 31.0s -69º 31' 08"
3109 Hya Gxy 9.9 14.3 19.1'X3.7' 10h 03m 06.7s -26º 09' 31"
4976 Cen Gxy 10.2 13.2 5.6'X3.0' 13h 08m 37.4s -49º 30' 21"
5102 Cen Gxy 9.1 12.4 8.7'X2.8' 13h 21m 57.5s -36º 37' 49"
5643 Lup Gxy 10.5 13.5 4.6'X4.0' 14h 32m 41.3s -44º 10' 24"
6684 Pav Gxy 10.5 12.9 4.0'X2.6' 18h 48m 57.8s -65º 10' 24"
7424 Gru Gxy 10.4 15 9.5'X8.1' 22h 57m 18.4s -41º 04' 15"

Reference Bob Erdmann
http://www.ngcic.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm