Deep Sky Divers
The NGC (New General Catalogue) was made in 1888.
Two IC (Index Catalogues) were made after that.
Nine men discovered more than 200 NGC and/or IC objects each, visually.
Number found, Name
2403 William Herschel
1520 John Herschel
1325 Stephane Javelle
811 Lewis Swift
559 Albert Marth
442 Edouard Stephan
277 James Dunlop
274 Heinrich d'Arrest
248 Francis Leavenworth
This list does not include objects found using photography.
William Herschel (1738-1822) observed from Bath, Datchet and Slough in the UK mostly with an
18.5” speculum reflector. He discovered 2142 new galaxies, 32 nebulae, 33 planetary nebulae, 152 open clusters, 37 globular clusters and 7 other objects. He mostly observed with no secondary mirror. He was the greatest visual discoverer of NGC and IC objects.
His son John Herschel (1792-1871) observed from Slough in the UK and Cape Town with the same
18.5” speculum reflector. He discovered 1148 galaxies, 38 nebulae, 18 planetary nebulae, 303 open clusters, 12 globular clusters and 1 other object. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, James Dunlop and John Herschel were the first to catalogue the far southern sky.
Stephane Javelle (1864-1917) observed from Nice, France with a large
30” refractor. He discovered 1322 galaxies, 2 nebulae and 1 planetary nebulae. He had the best of these 9 telescopes.
All of his finds are in the IC (Index Catalogue).
Lewis Swift (1820-1913) observed from New York state and California mostly with a
16” refractor. He discovered 801 galaxies, 4 nebulae, 4 planetary nebulae, no open clusters, 1 globular cluster and 1 other object.
Albert Marth (1828-1897) observed from Malta with a very large
48” speculum reflector. He discovered 552 galaxies, 3 nebulae and 4 planetary nebulae. Unfortunately his two speculum mirrors together only reflected about 40% of the light.
Edouard Stephan (1837-1923) observed from Marseille, France with a large
31” silver on glass reflector. He discovered 433 galaxies, 4 nebulae, 2 planetary nebulae, 2 open clusters and a globular cluster. Light pollution was a problem for him.
James Dunlop (1793-1848) observed from Parramatta, NSW with a small
9” speculum reflector.
He discovered 50 galaxies, 40 nebulae, 4 planetary nebulae, 155 open clusters and 28 globular clusters. Dunlop was the first to catalogue the clusters and nebulae in the two Magellan Clouds and the first to see far southern galaxies. A modern 6” reflector is as good as his 9”.
Heinrich d’Arrest (1822-1875) observed from Leipzig, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark mostly with an
11” refractor. He discovered 266 galaxies, 4 nebulae, no planetary nebulae, 2 open clusters no globular clusters and 2 other objects.
Francis Leavenworth (1858-1928) observed from Virginia, USA with a large
26” refractor. He discovered 247 galaxies and 1 other object. He had one of the best telescopes in this list.
* The number of galaxies found should increase as the magnitude increases. If it does not increase the observer is missing some galaxies. The
modal magnitude for galaxies for each telescope was;
Stephane Javelle mag 14.5 with a 30” refractor
Albert Marth mag 14.3 with a 48” speculum reflector
Francis Leavenworth mag 14.2 with a 26” refractor
Lewis Swift mag 13.7 with a 16” refractor
Edouard Stephan mag 13.5 with a 31” silver on glass reflector
Heinrich d'Arrest mag 13.5 with an 11” refractor (an excellent result)
William Herschel mag 13.0 with an 18.5” speculum reflector and no secondary
John Herschel mag 12.8 with an 18.5” speculum reflector and no secondary
James Dunlop mag 11.5 with a 9” speculum reflector
(This is the most common magnitude when a person’s galaxy magnitudes are listed in order.)
* If galaxies fainter than magnitude 13 are not included, the following four men discovered the most objects visually.
1. William Herschel 1813 objects
2. John Herschel 1119
3. James Dunlop 277 and
4. Lewis Swift 229
* Three men found more than 200 IC (Index Catalogue) objects after 1888 using photography.
Max Wolf discovered 694 new IC objects from Heidelberg, Germany
DeLisle Stewat discovered 593 IC objects from Arequipa, Peru and
Royal Frost discovered 433 IC objects, also from Arequipa.
Reference. Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/obs_e.htm
Attached is a photo of the 30 inch aperture refractor at Nice, France. It was 57 ft long.