Edmond Halley's Deep Sky Object Catalogs
In his catalog of southern stars of 1678,
Edmond Halley lists three "nebulous" objects,
which is here taken as quoted by G. Bigourdan (1892):
Designat Bi NGC/IC M Long (1661.0) Lat RA (2000.0) Dec Rem
Hal 180 23 5139 214:57 -35:07:05 13:26:34 -47:22:23 Omega Cen
Hal 20 27 6231 252:11 -19:01 16:53.3 -41:45 Near Zeta Sco
Hal 29 33 6475 M7 264:00 -13:25:05 17:53.8 -36:53:42
Later, in 1716, he published a
paper in the Philosophical Transactions, listing
six "nebulae", or nebulous objects, which could not be resolved into stars with the
telescopes of Halley's time:
- in Orion: The Orion Nebula M42.
Discovery quoted to Huygens, 1656.
- in Andromeda: The Andromeda Galaxy M31.
Discovery credited to Bullialdus, about 1661.
- in Sagittarius: Globular Cluster M22.
Discovered by M.J. Abraham Ihle, 1665.
- in Centaurus: Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
(NGC 5139). Halley's own discovery of 1677.
- in Antinous (Scutum): Open Cluster M11.
Discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681.
- in Hercules: Globular Cluster M13.
Halley's own discovery of 1714.
Data:
N Designat. Ident Long (1716) Lat RA (2000) Dec
1 N. in Ori M42 79:00 -28:45
2 N. in And M31 24:00 +33:20
3 N. in Sgr M22 274:30 -00:30
4 N. in Cen N5139 215:45 -35:12
5 N.[in Sct] M11 279:00 +17:10
6 N. in Her M13 236:30 +57:00
See Halley's original paper online.
Besides his deepsky discoveries and observations (which have played a minor role
in Halley's astronomical carreer only), Halley undertook a journey to St. Helena
and compiled a catalog of southern stars, observed several comets and calculated
the orbits of them, and detected the proper motion of some "fixed" stars. The
second Astronomer Royal after Flamsteed, he got most famous posthumously because
of his correct prediction of the return of "his" comet, now named "Comet Halley",
in 1758-59.
References:
- G. Bigourdan, 1892.
Observations of 1884.
Observations de Nébuleuses et d'amas stellaires
(Observations of Nebulae and Star Clusters).
Annales de l'Observatoire de Paris.
- Halley, E., 1716.
An Account of several Nebulae or lucid Spots like Clouds, lately discovered
among the Fixt Stars by help of the Telescope.
Phil. Trans., Vol. 29 (1714-1716), Num. 347 (Jan-Mar 1716), p. 390-392.
- Helen Sawyer Hogg, 1947.
Halley's List of Nebulous Objects.
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 41, No.
p. 69-71
History of the Discovery of the Deepsky Objects
More Deepsky Catalogs and Observing Lists
Some other historical catalogs
Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: January 31, 2001