The Herschel 400 catalogue is a subset of William Herschel's original ''

Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars The ''Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (CN) is an astronomical catalogue of nebulae first published in 1786 by William Herschel, with the assistance of his sister Caroline Herschel. It was later expanded into the ''General Catalogue o ...

'', selected by Brenda F. Guzman (Branchett), Lydel Guzman, Paul Jones, James Morris, Peggy Taylor and Sara Saey of the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States 1980. They decided to generate the list after reading a letter published in ''Sky & Telescope'' by James Mullaney of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. 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 Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters''). Because Messier was interested only in finding comets, he created a list of thos ...

. The Herschel 400 is a subset of

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...

's ''

General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online. Mar ...

'' published in 1864 of 5,000 objects, and hence also of the ''

New General Catalogue The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxy, galaxies, star cluste ...

''. 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

Basic facts

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

telescopes A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

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 The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters''). Because Messier was interested only in finding comets, he created a list of thos ...

Herschel 400 objects that are also Caldwell objects

The Herschel 400 catalogue pre-dates the

Caldwell catalogue The Caldwell catalogue is an astronomical catalogue of 109 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies for observation by amateur astronomers. The list was compiled by Patrick Moore as a complement to the Messier catalogue. While the Messier cata ...

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

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

References

External links

Astronomical Leagues Herschel 400 clubThe Herschel 400 at the NGC/IC projectInteractive star chart of Herschel 400
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Outer space Astronomical catalogues