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 Morris, 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, 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 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 the 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 the 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.
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:
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:
Number of objects by type in the Herschel 400
Number of Herschel 400 objects in each constellation
Herschel 400 objects
Key
Open cluster Globular cluster Diffuse nebula Planetary nebula Galaxy
1–100
101–200
201–300
301–400
See also
- Category:IC objects
- Category: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 club
- SEDS Herschel 400 information
- SEDS page on similar catalogues to Messier's
- The Herschel 400 at the NGC/IC project
- The Herschel 400 at the Saguaro Astronomy Club
- Interactive star chart of Herschel 400
