This is a list of astronomical objects named after people. While topological features on
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
bodies — such as craters, mountains, and valleys — are often named after famous or historical individuals, many stars and
deep-sky objects are named after the individual(s) who discovered or otherwise studied it.
This list does not include astronomical objects named after mythological or fictional characters.
Clusters and groups
Stars
*Al Sufi's cluster, also called
Brocchi's Cluster, is a coathanger-shaped
asterism located in
Vulpecula named after
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and
Dalmero Francis Brocchi.
*
Barnard's star is a dwarf star with the highest known motion relative to our Sun, named after
Edward Emerson Barnard
*
Blanco 1 is an open cluster in Sculptor, named after
Victor Manuel Blanco.
*Caroline's Cluster (
NGC 2360) is an
open cluster
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...
in
Canis Major
Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to C ...
, named after
Caroline Herschel.
*Caroline's Rose (
NGC 7789) is an open cluster in
Cassiopeia, named after Caroline Herschel.
*
Gould Belt is a ring of stars in the
Orion Arm of the
Milky Way
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
, named after
Benjamin Apthorp Gould
*Grindlay 1 is a globular star cluster in Scorpius, named after Jonathan E. Grindlay.
*
Kemble's Cascade and Kemble's Kite are two
asterisms in
Camelopardalis, named after
Lucian Kemble.
*
Liller 1 is a globular star cluster in Scorpius, named after
William Liller.
*Picot 1, also called Napoleon's Hat, is an asterism in
Boötes
Boötes ( ) is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from , which comes from 'herder, herdsman' or 'plowman' (literally, 'o ...
, named after
Fulbert Picot.
*Ptolemy's Cluster (
Messier 7) is an open star cluster in
Scorpius, named after
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
.
*Webb's wreath is a telescopic asterism in
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
, named after
Thomas William Webb.
Galaxies
*
Burbidge's Chain is a group of galaxies located in
Cetus
Cetus () is a constellation, sometimes called 'the whale' in English. The Cetus (mythology), Cetus was a sea monster in Greek mythology which both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. Cetus is in the region of the sky that contains other water- ...
, named after
Margaret Burbidge.
*
Clowes–Campusano LQG is a
large quasar group in
Leo, named after
Roger Clowes and
Luis Campusano.
*
Copeland Septet is group of seven galaxies in Leo, named after
Ralph Copeland.
*Keenan's System (
Arp 104) is a pair of connected galaxies in
Ursa Major
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...
, named after
Philip Childs Keenan.
*
Markarian's Chain is a chain of galaxies in the
Virgo Cluster, named after
Benjamin Markarian
*
Robert's Quartet is a group of galaxies in
Phoenix, named after Robert Freedman.
*
Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies in
Serpens, named after
Carl Keenan Seyfert.
*
Stephan's Quintet is a group of galaxies in
Pegasus, named after
Édouard Stephan
Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan (31 August 1837 – 31 December 1923) was a French astronomer. His surname is sometimes spelled Stéphan in some literature, but this is apparently erroneous.
He was born in Sainte Pezenne (today one of the districts o ...
.
*
Wild's Triplet is a group of galaxies in
Virgo
Virgo may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film
* Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters
* Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas''
* ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...
, named after
Paul Wild.
*
Zwicky's Triplet is a group of galaxies in
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
, named after
Fritz Zwicky.
Galaxy clusters and superclusters
*
Abell clusters - a list of 4000 galaxy clusters in the
Abell catalogue, named for
George O. Abell.
*
Shapley Supercluster
Comets
Comet names are often given for the astronomer(s) who discovered it, but they can also be for scientists who gave significant contributions towards their study.
Interstellar comets
*
2I/Borisov is the first observed interstellar comet, named after
Gennadiy Borisov
Great comets
*
Aristotle's Comet
*
Caesar's Comet
*
Donati's Comet
*
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...
*
Comet Skjellerup–Maristany
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
*
Comet Arend–Roland
*
Comet Mrkos
*
Comet Ikeya–Seki
*
Comet Bennett
*
Comet Kohoutek
*
Comet West
*
Comet Hyakutake
*
Comet Hale–Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a long-period comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.
Alan Hale (astronomer), Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp disc ...
*
Comet McNaught
*
Comet Lovejoy
Periodic comets
*
Comet Encke, named for
Johann Franz Encke
*
Lazarus comet
Craters
Galaxies
In most cases, the named individual was the person who discovered the galaxy, who first brought attention to it, or who first studied it scientifically. Many of the brighter galaxies visible from the
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
have
Messier numbers, named after
Charles Messier. There are a few other comprehensive catalogs that assign the cataloguer's name to galaxies. For instance,
Markarian galaxies, named after
Benjamin Markarian, are galaxies with excess blue and ultraviolet emission; galaxies in the
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies are assigned an Arp number after
Halton Arp who produced the catalog; etc. Objects in these catalogs are excluded below, except in cases where they carry the name of an additional person.
*Ambartsumian's Knot, a small tidal
dwarf galaxy located in
NGC 3561 in
Ursa Major
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...
, named after
Viktor Ambartsumian
*Barnard's Galaxy (
NGC 6822) is located in
Sagittarius, named after
E. E. Barnard.
*
Bedin I, a dwarf spheroidal galaxy
*
Burçin's Galaxy is a ring galaxy in
Crater, named after
Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil
*
Bode's Galaxy is
Messier 81
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 1 E22 m, 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a Galaxy#Isophotal diameter, D25 isophotal diameter of . Because of its rela ...
, a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
*
Coddington's Nebula is dwarf spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, named after
Edwin Foster Coddington.
*
Donatiello I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy about 10.7 million light-years, close to NGC404. It is named after the Italian amateur astronomer Giuseppe Donatiello. Donatiello discovered three more NGC 253 satellite galaxies in 2020, named Donatiello II, Donatiello III and Donatiello IV
&A 652, A48 (2021)
*
Hoag's Object is a
ring galaxy in
Serpens, named after
Arthur Hoag.
*
Erik Holmberg described multiple galaxies that have since been named after him:
**
Holmberg II is a dwarf irregular galaxy about 9.8 million light-years away in the M81 Group
**
Holmberg IX is a dwarf irregular galaxy and a satellite galaxy of Messier 81.
**
Holmberg 15A is a supergiant elliptical galaxy and the central dominant galaxy of the Abell 85 galaxy cluster in the constellation Cetus.
*
Huchra's Lens is a lensed galaxy.
*
Kinman's Dwarf is a low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxy in
Aquarius.
*
Komossa's object is a galaxy in which the supermassive black hole disrupted a star.
*
Lindsay-Shapley Ring is a ring galaxy in
Volans
*
Maffei 1 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia and the closest giant elliptical galaxy to the Milky Way.
*
Maffei 2 is a spiral galaxy about 10 million light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia.
*
Malin 1 is one of the largest spiral galaxies known and is the archetypal
Low Surface Brightness galaxy
*
Mayall's Object
*
Willman 1 is an ultra low-mass dwarf galaxy.
*The
Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte galaxy is an irregular galaxy on the outer edges of the Local Group. It is in the constellation Cetus.
*
I Zwicky 18 is a dwarf irregular galaxy.
Minor planets and Solar System features
*
Kordylewski cloud, named after
Kazimierz Kordylewski
*
Kuiper belt, named after
Gerard Kuiper
Nebulae
*Barnard's
E Nebula is a pair of dark
nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
in
Aquila, named after
E. E. Barnard.
*
Barnard's Loop is an
emission nebula that is part of the
Orion molecular cloud complex in
Orion, named after
E. E. Barnard.
*Barnard's Merope Nebula (
IC 349) is a nebula located in the
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...
cluster, named after
E. E. Barnard.
* Baxendell's Unphotographable Nebula is an apparently nonexistent nebula located near
Messier 2
Messier 2 or M2 (also designated NGC 7089) is a globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius (constellation), Aquarius, five degrees north of the star Beta Aquarii. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746, and is one of the largest k ...
in
Aquarius, named after
Joseph Baxendell who first "discovered" it.
*
Burnham's Nebula is an
Herbig-Haro Object in
Taurus, named after
Robert Burnham Jr.
*
De Mairan's Nebula (Messier 43) is part of the
Orion molecular cloud complex, named after
Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan
*
Fleming 1 is a
planetary nebula in
Centaurus
Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...
, named after
Williamina Fleming
Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming (15 May 1857 – 21 May 1911) was a pioneering Scottish astronomer, who made significant contributions to the field despite facing gender biases. She was a single mother hired by the director of the Harvard Co ...
*
Gum Nebula (Gum 12) is an emission nebula stretching across
Vela and
Puppis, named after
Colin Stanley Gum.
*Hind's Variable Nebula (
NGC 1555) is in
Taurus, named after
John Russell Hind.
*Hubble's Variable Nebula (
NGC 2261) is in
Monoceros
Monoceros ( Greek: , "unicorn") is a faint constellation on the celestial equator. Its definition is attributed to the 17th-century cartographer Petrus Plancius. It is bordered by Orion to the west, Gemini to the north, Canis Major to the s ...
, named after
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.
Hubble proved that many objects previously ...
.
*
Jones-Emberson 1 is a planetary nebula in
Lynx, named after Rebecca Jones and Richard M. Emberson.
*
Kleinmann–Low Nebula is a star-forming region found at the center of the
Orion Nebula, named after named after
Douglas Kleinmann and
Frank J. Low.
*
McNeil's Nebula is a variable nebula in
Orion, named after Jay McNeil.
*
Minkowski 2-9 or Minkowski's Butterfly is a planetary nebula in
Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "serpent-bearer", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping a snake. The serpent is represented by the constellati ...
, named after
Rudolph Minkowski.
*
Pease 1 is a planetary nebula in the globular star cluster
Messier 15, named after
Francis G. Pease.
*
Pickering's Triangle is a section of the Veil Nebula in
Cygnus, named after
Edward Charles Pickering.
*
Shapley 1 is a planetary nebula in
Norma, named after Harlow Shapley.
*Struve's Lost Nebula (
NGC 1554) is a potentially nonexistent nebula in
Taurus, named after
Otto Wilhelm von Struve.
*Tempel's Nebula (
NGC 1435) is a reflection nebula in
Taurus, named after
Wilhelm Tempel.
*
Westbrook Nebula is a
bipolar nebula
A bipolar nebula is a type of nebula characterized by two lobes either side of a central star. About 10–20% of planetary nebulae are bipolar.
Formation
Though the exact causes of this nebular structure are not known, it is often thought to im ...
in
Auriga, named after William E. Westbrook.
Stars
Other astronomical features
*Arp's loop is a ring-like structure located near
Messier 81
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 1 E22 m, 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a Galaxy#Isophotal diameter, D25 isophotal diameter of . Because of its rela ...
in Ursa Major, named after
Halton Arp.
*
Baade's Window is an area of sky with low amounts of
cosmic dust
Cosmic dustalso called extraterrestrial dust, space dust, or star dustis dust that occurs in outer space or has fallen onto Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and , such as micrometeoroids (30 μm). Cosmic dust can ...
in
Sagittarius, named after
Walter Baade.
*
Becklin–Neugebauer Object is located in the
Orion molecular cloud complex and only visible in
infrared
Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
, named after
Eric Becklin and
Gerry Neugebauer.
*Fourcade-Figueroa Object is a potential galaxy remnant associated with
NGC 5128 in
Centaurus
Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...
, named after
Carlos Raúl Fourcade and Edgardo Javier Figueroa.
*Gabriela Mistral Nebula is the combination of open cluster
NGC 3324 and emission nebula IC 2599 in
Carina, named after the Chilean poet
Gabriela Mistral.
*
Gomez's Hamburger (IRAS 18059-3211) is a potentially young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk in
Sagittarius, named after Arturo Gómez.
*
Hanny's Voorwerp is a quasar ionization echo near
IC 2497 in
Leo Minor, named after Hanny van Arkel.
*
Helmi stream is a stellar stream of the Milky Way galaxy, named after
Amina Helmi.
*
Hubble volume,  a spherical region of the observable universe surrounding an observer beyond which objects recede from that observer at a rate greater than the speed of light due to the expansion of the universe, named after
Edwin Hubble
Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.
Hubble proved that many objects previously ...
.
*
KBC Void is an immense
empty region of space, named after
Ryan Keenan,
Amy Barger, and
Lennox Cowie.
*
Mayall's Object is the result of a galaxy collision in
Ursa Major
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...
, named after
Nicholas Mayall.
*
9Spitch is a gravitationally lensed system of two galaxies in Cetus. It is named after Zbigniew "Zbish" Chetnik. The term ''Spitch'' comes from Chetnik's nickname ''Zbish'', after a BBC producer misheard his nickname.
*
Oort cloud, named for
Jan Oort
*Thackeray's Globules are a set of
Bok globules in
IC 2944 in
Centaurus
Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...
, named after
A. David Thackeray.
See also
*
List of eponyms
*
List of astronomical catalogues
*
List of astronomical topics
*
Lists of etymologies
*
List of asteroids
*
List of periodic comets
*
List of non-periodic comets
References
External links
USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System
Lists of comets
Lists of galaxies