Herschel Objects not in the NGC

Only 4 or 5 of Herschel's objects are not listed in the NGC (but 2 of them have been assigned IC numbers):

Herschel    Name      RA       Dec     Notes

H III.363   IC  4051  13:00.9  -28:00  Galaxy in Coma Berenices
H III.382   IC  2995  12:05.8  -27:56  Galaxy in Hydra
H III.969   AR    37  11:32.5  +74:32  Open Cluster in Draco
H V.35      Sh   276  05:41    -02:    Diffuse Nebula in Orion; Barnards Loop ?
H III.968?  UGC 6090  11:01.7  +75:13  Galaxy in Draco; also assigned non-existing NGC 3500?

In addition, there seem to be two entries not belonging to any objects, and are not contained in the NGC:

Herschel    Name      RA       Dec     Notes

H I.7                 12:42.3  +07:48: Either a comet, or re-observation of M49
H II.118                               Nonexistent object in Coma near M88

In more detail:

H I.7

January 23, 1784; W. Herschel's Sweep 105, measured from 49 Leonis (this may be a misidentification). Notes: "vB. L. R. The place inac." W.H. describes it as "A beautiful nebula, not cometic," and first supposed it might be a reobservation of M61. Later, and by comparing his drawing, he assumed that his early identification was probably erroneous: "This remarkable appearance being no longer in the place it has been observed, we must look upon it as a very considerable telescopic comet. It was visible in the finder and resembled on of the bright nebulae of the 'Connoissance de Temps' [Messier's Catalog] so much, that I took it for one of them till I came to settle its place; but this not being done till a month or two after the observation, the opportunity of pursuing and investigating its track was lost. [See Notes, infra.]" The value given above for declination is quite uncertain, according to Herschel.

Based on Herschel's notes and drawing, J.L.E. Dreyer, the author of the NGC, concluded that, contrary to Herschel's assumption, H I.7 was possibly a reobservation of M49, because this "nebula" has a star of mag 12 close to it, which might be that visible in the drawing.

H II.118

April 8, 1784; observed as measured from 6 Comae, with note that it was observed just following [east of] M88.

Thanks to Bob Erdmann and Richard Wilds for communicating these informations to me!

H II.6: Another perhaps spurious identification is that of H II.6 (GC 573) with H I.1 (NGC 1055, GC 591, h 258). This object is described by William Herschel on December 18, 1783 as preceding 82 Delta Ceti by 1m in RA and 1/2 deg N of it, as "S. C, between 2 L and 1 S st." (small, cometic, between 2 large [bright] and 1 small [faint] stars). William Herschel remarks in his notes at the end of the printed catalogue of 1786,
"II.6. This has probably been a telescopic comet, as I have not been able to find it again, notwithstanding the assistance of a drawing which represents the telescopic stars in its neighborhood."
Nevertheless, John Herschel included this object, or observation, in his General Catalogue, gives a position of RA=02:231:35.5, NPD=89:44:06.9 (1860.0) and repeats his father's description "small, cometic". In his notes to the GC, he expresses his belief that this object was actually another comet: "This was probably really a comet, as indicated by its description, having been subsequently looked for and not found."

So we arrive at two possible, or probable, telescopic comet sightings by William Herschel in December 1783 (H II.6) and January 1784 (H I.7).

Please email me any additional information on any of these entries in Herschel's catalogs, or other Herschel objects which were perhaps not included in the NGC.

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Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org).
Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

Last Modification: 8 Feb 1998, 20:00 MET