Herschel 400

The Herschel 400 catalogue is a subset of William Herschel's original '' Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'', selected by Brenda F. Guzman (Branchett), Lydel Guzman, Paul Jones, James Morrison, Peggy Taylor and Sara Saey of the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine, Florida, United States c. 1980. They decided to generate the list after reading a letter published in ''Sky & Telescope'' by James Mullaney of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

In this letter Mr. Mullaney suggested that William Herschel's original catalogue of 2,500 objects would be an excellent basis for deep sky object selection for amateur astronomers looking for a challenge after completing the Messier Catalogue.

The Herschel 400 is a subset of John Herschel's '' General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters'' published in 1864 of 5,000 objects, and hence also of the ''New General Catalogue''.

The catalogue forms the basis of th
Astronomical League's Herschel 400 club
In 1997, another subset of 400 Herschel objects was selected by the Rose City Astronomers of Portland, Oregon as the Herschel II list, which forms the basis of th
Astronomical League's Herschel II Program

Vital statistics

* The catalogue contains 400 objects
* All objects are from the NGC
* All visible in mid northern latitudes (they were all observed by Herschel from the UK)
* All visible in 150 mm (6") or larger telescopes

Distribution of Herschel 400 objects

Herschel 400 objects that are also Messier objects

The Herschel 400 contains 17 objects that are part of the Messier catalogue:

* M20 NGC 6514 Trifid Nebula
* M33 NGC 598 Triangulum Galaxy
* M47 NGC 2422
* M48 NGC 2548
* M51B NGC 5195 companion to the Whirlpool Galaxy
* M61 NGC 4303
* M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula, NGC 651 Little Dumbbell Nebula/Barbell Nebula (northern portion)
* M82 NGC 3034 Cigar Galaxy
* M91 NGC 4548
* M102? NGC 5866 Spindle Galaxy (not certainly a Messier object)
* M104 NGC 4594 Sombrero Galaxy
* M105 NGC 3379
* M106 NGC 4258
* M107 NGC 6171
* M108 NGC 3556
* M109 NGC 3992
* M110 NGC 205

Herschel 400 objects that are also Caldwell objects

The Herschel 400 catalogue pre-dates the Caldwell catalogue by about 15 years. The Caldwell catalogue contains 44 objects that are members of the Herschel 400:

* C2 NGC 40 Bow-Tie Nebula
* C6 NGC 6543 Cat's Eye Nebula
* C7 NGC 2403
* C8 NGC 559
* C10 NGC 663
* C12 NGC 6946
* C13 NGC 457 Owl Cluster
* C14 NGC 869 Double Cluster
* C15 NGC 6826 Blinking Planetary
* C16 NGC 7243
* C18 NGC 185
* C20 NGC 7000 North America Nebula
* C21 NGC 4449
* C22 NGC 7662 Blue Snowball
* C23 NGC 891
* C25 NGC 2419
* C28 NGC 752
* C29 NGC 5005
* C30 NGC 7331
* C32 NGC 4631 Whale Galaxy
* C36 NGC 4559
* C37 NGC 6885
* C38 NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy
* C39 NGC 2392 Eskimo Nebula / Clown Face Nebula
* C40 NGC 3626
* C42 NGC 7006
* C43 NGC 7814
* C44 NGC 7479
* C45 NGC 5248
* C47 NGC 6934
* C48 NGC 2775
* C50 NGC 2244
* C52 NGC 4697
* C53 NGC 3115 Spindle Galaxy
* C54 NGC 2506
* C55 NGC 7009 Saturn Nebula
* C56 NGC 246
* C58 NGC 2360
* C59 NGC 3242 Ghost of Jupiter
* C60 NGC 4038 Brighter of two Antennae Galaxies
* C62 NGC 247
* C64 NGC 2362 Tau Canis Majoris Cluster
* C65 NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy / Silver Coin Galaxy
* C66 NGC 5694

Number of objects by type in the Herschel 400

Number of Herschel 400 objects in each constellation

Herschel 400 objects

Key

1–100

101–200

201–300

301–400

See also

* :IC objects
* :NGC objects
* Caldwell catalogue
* Index Catalogue (IC)
* Messier Catalogue
* New General Catalogue (NGC)
* Revised Index Catalogue (RIC)
* Revised New General Catalogue (RNGC)

References

External links

Astronomical Leagues Herschel 400 clubThe Herschel 400 at the NGC/IC projectInteractive star chart of Herschel 400

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