From this site, Karl Ludwig Harding discovered asteroid (3) Juno on September 1, 1804. He later went to Göttingen and worked with Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855). He conducted sky surveys and in particular, published a catalog of about 120,000 stars called Atlas novus coelestis. Within these surveys, he accidentally found a number of eight "nebulae" (deep sky objects) he considered to be unknown; this includes the one original discovery of the famous planetary nebula NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, and an independent discovery of open cluster NGC 6819 which had been previously found by Caroline Herschel (her No. 16).
Karl Ludwig Harding died in Göttingen on August 31, 1834.
Harding is honored by the naming of asteriod (2003) Harding.
Harding's Deepsky Discoveries
In the Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1927, Karl Ludwig Harding gives a list of nebulae he had discovered during his sky surveys ["Durchmusterungen"] (Harding 1824). We have added modern identifications in the last column. Harding writes (translated from German):
During my surveys of the sky I have found the following nebulae, which seem to be not yet known:
[Modern ID, Discoverer]
1. AR. 117:30 Dec. -10: 5 on No. III of my Atlas NGC 2506 H 6.37
2. 245:25 -12:35 VII M107 Méchain
3. 262: 5 - 3:15 VII M 14 Messier
4. 334:30 -21:45 IX NGC 7293 !
5. 106:35 +14:12 XII NGC 2355 H 6.6
6. 301:20 +25:40 XVII NGC 6882 H 8.22
7. 293:40 +39:53 XXV NGC 6819 (!) C. Herschel (No. 16)
8. 299:20 +43:45 XXV NGC 6866 H 7.59
Note: An exclamation mark maks an original discovery by Harding.
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