The Frenchman Nicholas Lacaille made the first catalogue of southern clusters and nebulae from Cape Town in 1751-52. He also discovered the galaxy M83.
James Dunlop, from Scotland, made the second catalogue of southern clusters, nebulae and galaxies in 1826 from Parramatta in Sydney. He was the
Messier Of The Southern Sky. James Dunlop was also the first to catalog objects in the Magellanic Clouds.
I would like to compile a book with selected descriptions and images of Lacaille’s and Dunlop’s objects. The combined Lacaille and Dunlop catalog includes 93 open clusters, 39 globular clusters, 6 nebulae, 4 planetary nebulae and 60 galaxies. It also includes 160 clusters and nebulae from the LMC and the SMC but I don’t intend to cover all the Magellanic Cloud objects in the book. The attached Excel file gives a summary of all the objects by constellation and type.
Please send me a private message if you are interested in contributing descriptions or images to the book. Suggestions are also welcome.
For more information on Lacaille and Dunlop see:
Lacaille
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Louis_de_Lacaille
http://seds.org/MESSIER/xtra/Bios/lacaille.html
http://seds.org/MESSIER/xtra/history/lacaille.html
Dunlop
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010322b.htm
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/1527.html
http://seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/dunlop.html
