Some NGC History

[glenc (Glen)]

If someone finds a comet they get credit for it, but if someone finds a cluster, nebula or galaxy they are usually forgotten.

Who found the brightest NGC objects?

An interesting web site is
The Historically Corrected New General Catalogue by Bob Erdmann
http://www.ngcic.org/public_HCNGC/HCNGC.htm

I used it to pick out the:
50 brightest open clusters (OC) from the NGC and the
50 brightest globular clusters (GC) from the NGC and
50 bright nebulae (Neb) from the NGC and the
50 brightest planetary nebulae (PN) from the NGC and the
100 brightest galaxies (Gxy) from the NGC.

87 Messier objects made it into the brightest 300 NGC objects.

Who found these 300 bright NGC objects?

For all of the sky the 11 main finders in order were:

Discoverer # Objects
William Herschel 93
James Dunlop 45
Charles Messier 28
John Herschel 22
Pierre Mechain 20
Nicolas Lacaille 18
Giovanni Hodierna 10
Ralph Copeland 6
Phillippe de Cheseaux 5
Edward Barnard 4
Johann Bode 4
Others (< 4 obj) 45
Total 300

For the sky south of declination -35 degrees the 4 main finders were:

Discoverer # Objects
James Dunlop 41
Nicolas Lacaille 16
John Herschel 15
Ralph Copeland 3
Others (1 each) 6
Total 81 from the above 300

James Dunlop used a 9" reflector to observe from Parramatta, Sydney in 1826.
(He is buried at Kincumber near Gosford.)
Lacaille used a 0.5" refractor to observe from Cape Town in 1751 and 1752.
John Herschel observed with an 18.5" reflector from Cape Town from 1834 to 1838.

Here is a list of 81 bright NGC objects south of Dec -35.
It contains 22 OC, 19 GC, 11 Neb, 11 PN and 18 Gxy.

NGC Object Discoverer
55 Gxy James Dunlop
104 GC Nicolas Lacaille
292 Gxy Fernando Magellan (SMC)
300 Gxy James Dunlop
346 Neb James Dunlop
362 GC James Dunlop
1269 Gxy James Dunlop = 1291
1291 Gxy James Dunlop
1313 Gxy James Dunlop
1316 Gxy James Dunlop
1365 Gxy James Dunlop
1399 Gxy John Herschel
1433 Gxy James Dunlop
1549 Gxy James Dunlop
1553 Gxy James Dunlop
1566 Gxy James Dunlop
1672 Gxy James Dunlop
1763 Neb James Dunlop
1851 GC James Dunlop
2070 Neb Nicolas Lacaille
2451 OC John Herschel
2477 OC Nicolas Lacaille
2516 OC Nicolas Lacaille
2547 OC Nicolas Lacaille
2808 GC James Dunlop
2867 PN John Herschel
3114 OC James Dunlop
3132 PN John Herschel
3199 Neb James Dunlop
3201 GC James Dunlop
3211 PN John Herschel
3228 OC Nicolas Lacaille
3293 OC Nicolas Lacaille
3324 Neb James Dunlop
3372 Neb Nicolas Lacaille
3532 OC Nicolas Lacaille
3581 Neb John Herschel
3699 PN John Herschel
3766 OC Nicolas Lacaille
3918 PN John Herschel
4372 GC James Dunlop
4755 OC Nicolas Lacaille
4945 Gxy James Dunlop
5102 Gxy John Herschel
5128 Gxy James Dunlop
5139 GC Edmond Halley
5281 OC Nicolas Lacaille
5286 GC James Dunlop
5307 PN John Herschel
5315 PN Ralph Copeland
5316 OC James Dunlop
5367 Neb John Herschel
5460 OC James Dunlop
5662 OC Nicolas Lacaille
5873 PN Ralph Copeland
5882 PN John Herschel
5927 GC James Dunlop
5986 GC James Dunlop
6025 OC Nicolas Lacaille
6067 OC James Dunlop
6087 OC James Dunlop
6124 OC Nicolas Lacaille
6153 PN Ralph Copeland
6188 Neb John Herschel
6193 OC James Dunlop
6231 OC Giovanni Hodierna
6250 OC John Herschel
6281 OC James Dunlop
6302 PN Edward Barnard
6334 Neb John Herschel
6352 GC James Dunlop
6362 GC James Dunlop
6388 GC James Dunlop
6397 GC Nicolas Lacaille
6441 GC James Dunlop
6541 GC Niccolò Cacciatore
6584 GC James Dunlop
6723 GC James Dunlop
6726 Neb Julius Schmidt
6744 Gxy James Dunlop
6752 GC James Dunlop

Take a look at them and remember their finders.

Glen

[Dennis]

Hi Glen

Wow - a nice bit of research, thanks!

Cheers

Dennis

[astroron (Ron)]

you have been very busy. well done

[mickoking]

G,day Glen, great work. I found the list very interesting

I wonder if Lacille was satisfied with his 0.5" refractor looking at the list of discoveries he did a stirling job with his 'light straw'

[glenc (Glen)]

FIVE EARLY SOUTHERN ASTRONOMERS

Three men discovered most of the far southern objects in the NGC catalogue.

1 Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, Cape Town, 1751-52, 0.5” refractor
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/n...s/lacaille.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Louis_de_Lacaille
2 James Dunlop, Sydney, 1826, 9” reflector
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/n...ons/dunlop.htm
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010322b.htm
3 John Herschel, Cape Town, 1834-38, 18.5” reflector
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/n...herschel_j.htm
http://www.nndb.com/people/054/000086793/


The following link shows their observing sites.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ghlight=dunlop


Two men discovered most of the far southern objects in the IC catalogue.

1 DeLisle Stewart, Arequipa Peru, 1898-1901
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/n...ns/stewart.htm
2 Royal Harwood Frost, Arequipa Peru, 1902-1905
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/n...sons/frost.htm


Stewart and Frost made 4-hour photographic plates with the 24" f/5.6 Bruce refractor.


For other NGC & IC observers see
NGC/IC observers by Wolfgang Steinicke
http://www.ngcic.org/Steinicke/HNGC/obs_e.htm

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

And La Caille had his Southern findings published as an annex in Charles Messiers original catalogue. Any that Messier confirmed were added to the M list.

I often think of his objects as simply a southern extention of the Mesier Catalogue.

[glenc (Glen)]

Yes, it's a pity they didn't maintain the Messier + Lacaille lists combined.

[johnno]

Hi Glen,

Many thanks for the large amount of research,and effort,you have put in, to compile the lists.

Best Regards.
John

[glenc (Glen)]

RALPH COPELAND (1837-1905)

Ralph Copeland discovered 3 southern planetary nebulae from Peru in 1883.

NGC5315 in Cir, NGC5873 in Lup and NGC6153 in Sco

NGC 6153 is in the IIS list of 111 Bright NGC objects.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.p...63,322,0,0,1,0
It forms an attractive mini Crux with 3 stars. For an image see:
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/n/6/n6153.jpg

Copeland has an Australian connection. “In 1853 he went to Australia and spent five years in the colony of Victoria, most of the time on a sheep run at the foot of the Australian Alps, though he was also for some time infected by the then raging mania for gold digging and made his way to the wild Omeo district.”

He went to Peru in 1883.
“Landing at Mollendo on the 2nd of February, he proceeded to Arequipa by the interesting railway and utilised an enforced delay of a week in that town to get a 6-inch lathe transformed into a very fair equatorial mounting. The rainy season was now in full swing, and when he reached Vincocaya (14,360 feet above sea level) nothing could be done there, for which reason he went on to La Paz, in Bolivia, across the Lake of Titicaca, to gain experience of the means of transport and the state of the sky in that country. He established himself at Puno, on Lake Titicaca (12,500 feet), from the 17th of March to the 2nd of June, after which he again observed at Vincocaya till the 27th of June before embarking for Panama. With the Vogel spectroscope he found a number of stars with bright line spectra and several star-like planetary nebulae, and would doubtless have accomplished much more in this direction if his instrumental equipment had been better.”
http://www.eric.percival.dsl.pipex.c...20obituary.htm

[Ric]

Great research Glen,
It must have been a real golden era to be an astronomer in those days and discover a galaxy or several.
The sky would have been pristine with virtually no light pollution to worry about, next time I'm looking at a galaxy I will think about those pioneers, no doubt I will have the same feeling as they did when I see it for the first time.

cheers

[h0ughy (David)]

excellent research and history lesson Glen!