List of Common Deep Sky Catalogs

We have some of these catalogs available here at SEDS. Other compilations are acknowledged where they are linked.

Besides these catalogs which are often used to designate objects, there are many observing lists and catalogs suitable for work-through and as databases, as well as historic deepsky catalogs, which we do not include here.

General

M: Messier

Charles Messier's Catalog of 110 objects. First more reliable and comprehensive catalog of deep sky objects, must-see for amateurs.

NGC: New General Catalog

J.L.E. Dreyer. New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars Mem. Roy. Astron. Soc. 49, Part I (1888). Reprinted 1912 and 1953. Attempt to compile a comprehensive list of all deep sky objects known at that time, including the catalogs of the Herschels and Lord Rosse. Most of these objects had been discovered visually.

IC: Index Catalog

J.L.E. Dreyer. Index Catalogue of Nebulae Found in the Years 1888 to 1894, with Notes and Corrections to the New General Catalogue, Mem. Roy. Astron. Soc. 51, 185 (1895), and Second Index Catalogue of Nebulae Found in the Years 1895 to 1907; with Notes and Corrections to the New General Catalogue and to the Index Catalogue for 1888 to 1894, Mem. Roy. Astron. Soc. 59, Part 2, 105 (1908), both reprinted 1912 and 1953. Many IC objects had been discovered photographically.

Less common general catalogs:

Bode:

Johan Elert Bode's "Complete Catalogue of Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters", Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1779, Berlin (1977). Original catalog online.

Dun, Delta: Dunlop

James Dunlop's (1795-1848) historic catalog of southern deep sky objects. James Dunlop, A catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars in the southern hemisphere, observed at Paramatta in New South Wales, by James Dunlop, Esq. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 118, p. 113--151, 1828. Catalog of 629 positions of nebulous objects. Many of them were only badly determined, though.

GC: General Catalogue

John Herschel's famous General Catalogue of nonstellar objects: Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London), Vol. 154 (1864), 1-137.

H: (William) Herschel

William Herschel's catalog of 2500 deep sky objects, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: First catalogue of 1,000 nebulous objects (1786), second catalog of a second 1,000 nebulous objects (1789), and third catalog of 500 nebulous objects. Classified in 8 subclasses, and numbered in the order of discovery for each subclass (e.g., H I.215 or H 1.215, H II.909 or H 2.909, H VIII.88 or H 8.88; older notations were like H 215-I or H 215^I or I H 215).

h: (John) Herschel

John Herschel's catalog, 2 parts 1833 (northern objects) and 1847 (southern): 1. Observations of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, made at Slough, with a Twenty-feet Reflector, between the years 1825 and 1833. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 123, p. 359--505, 1833. 2307 objects. 2. Results of Astronomical Observations made during the years 1834, 5, 6, 7, 8 at the Cape of Good Hope, being a completion of a telescopic survey of the whole surface of the visible heavens commenced in 1825. Smith, Elder & Co., London. The 1713 entries in this catalog were numbered in continuation of John Herschel's 1833 catalog, and are normally referred as h 2308 -- h 4021.

Lac: Lacaille

Abbe Nicholas Louis de la Caille (1713-62). Sur les etoiles nebuleuses du ciel Austral (On the Nebulous Stars of the Southern Sky). Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, 1755. The reprint version appended to Messier's catalog is available online.

Supernova Remnants

G: Galactic Supernova Remnant

Galactic Supernova Remnants, from A Catalogue of Galactic Supernova Remnants (2000 August version), by David A. Green of Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK.

Planetary Nebulae

PK: Perek-Kohoutek

Perek and Kohoutek. Catalog of Galactic Planetary Nebulae, Prague, 1967. Compilation of all Planetary Nebulae known at 1964.
There is an online version of the second edition (2000)

Abell

Abell G.O., 1966. Properties of some old Planetary Nebulae. Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 144, p. 259 (April 1966). Also Table II (Planetary Nebulae) in: Abell G.O., 1955. Globular Clusters and Planetary Nebulae Discovered on the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 67, No. 397, p.258 (August 1955) - Table 1 is the Palomar Catalog of globular clusters. The Abell Planetary Nebulae, presented online by Tom Polakis. Also note Jim Shields' Best & Brightest Abell Planetaries page.

ARO:

Algonquin Radio Observatory; L.A. Higgs, 1971. P.A.B., Vol. 1, No. 1, Dominion Observatory.

He2:

Henize, Karl G., 1967. Observations of Southern Planetary Nebulae. Ap.J.Supp 14, 125.

Diffuse Nebulae

Ced: Cederblad

S. Cederblad. Catalog of Bright Diffuse Galactic Nebulae. Meddelanden fran Lunds Observatorium, Ser. 2, 12, No. 119 (1946)

DWB: Dickel, Wendker, Bieritz

Dickel H.R., Wendker H.J., Bieritz J.H., 1969. The Cygnus X region. V. Catalogue and distances of optically visible HII regions. Astr. Astrophys. 1, 270-280

GN: Galactic Nebula

Anonymous Galactic Nebula from the "Atlas of Galactic Nebulae" by T. Neckel and H. Vehrenberg

Gum

C.S. Gum. A Survey of Southern H II Regions. Memoirs of the RAS, 67:155 (1955)

LBN: Lynds, Catalogue of Bright Nebulae

B.T. Lynds. Catalogue of Bright Nebulae. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 12:163 (1965). Contains both emission and reflection nebulae. Normally quoted only if a "Sh2" or "vdB" number is missing.

Mi, M1: Minkowski

R. Minkowski, 1946. New Emission Nebulae. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 58:305.

Sh2: Sharpless

S. Sharpless. A Catalogue of H II Regions. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 4:257 (1959). Comprehensive catalog of galactic emission nebulae.

vdB: van den Bergh

S. van den Bergh, 1966. A Study of Reflection Nebulae. Astronomical Journal, 71:990. Comprehensive catalog of galactic reflection nebulae.

Dark Nebulae

B: Barnard

E.E. Barnard. Catalogue of 349 Dark Objects in the Sky. In A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions in the Milky Way, Washington, DC, 1927; Carnegie Inst. First catalog of dark nebulae, created from photos. A preliminary version with 182 nebulae had appeared already in 1919:
E.E. Barnard, 1919. On the dark markings of the sky, with a catalogue of 182 such objects. Astrophys. J., 49, 1-24.
An online version of the catalog listing is available from Mikkel Steine.

LDN: Lynds, Catalogue of Dark Nebulae

B.T. Lynds. Catalogue of Dark Nebulae. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 7:1 (1962). Comprehensive catalog of galactic dark nebulae.

Open Clusters

A: Antalova

Av-Hunter

Bar, Bark: Barkhatova

Bas: Basel

Be: Berkeley

Bi, Biur: Biurkan

Blanco

Bo: Bochum

Cr: Collinder

Per Collinder (d. 1974), On structured properties of open galactic clusters and their spatial distribution Lund Obs. Ann. No. 2 (1931). Catalogue of 471 open clusters, identified on the Franklin-Adams charts, the NGC catalog, and the catalogs of Bailey, Melotte, Raab, Shapley, Trumpler, and others. (Online List by Mikkel Steine)

Cz: Czernik

Do: Dolidze

DoDz: Dolidze/Dzimselejsvili

Fr: Frolov

Graff

Grasdalen

Haf: Hafner

H: Harvard

Iskudarian

K: King

Ivan R. King

Latysev

Lynga

Mrk: Markarian

Mayer

Mel: Melotte

Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961), A catalogue of star clusters shown on the Franklin-Adams chart plates. Roy. Astron. Soc. Mem. 60 (1915) 175-186 and plates 16-17. Mel 1-245.

Pi: Pismis

Paris Pismis , Nuevos cumulos estelares en regiones del sur, Bol. Obs. Tonantz. Tacub., 2, part no 18, 37-38 (1959). Table 1: 24 open clusters (Pismis 1-24), Table 2: 2 globular clusters (numbered 1 and 2, but now Pismis 25-26).

Ro: Roslund

Ru: Ruprecht

J. Ruprecht

Ste: Stephenson

St: Stock

Jürgen Stock

Tom: Tombaugh

Clyde Tombaugh's Small List of Open Clusters. Tombaugh 1 and 2 are from: Tombaugh, C.W., 1938. Two new faint galactic star clusters. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 50, No. 295, p. 171. Tombaugh 3 to 5: Tombaugh, C.W., 1941. Three more new galactic star clusters. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 53, No. 314, p. 219.

Tr: Trümpler

R.J. Trumpler, 1930. Preliminary results on the distances, dimensions and space distribution of open star clusters. Lick Obs. Bull. Vol XIV, No. 420 (1930) 154-188.

Up: Upgren

vdB: van den Bergh-Waterloo

vdB-Ha: van den Bergh-Hagen

Van den Bergh, S. and Hagen, G. L., 1975. Uniform survey of clusters in the Southern Milky Way. Astron. J., 80, 11-16 (1975)

Globular Clusters

Arp

Halton A. Arp. Globular Clusters in the Galaxy. In: Galactic Structure, ed. A. Blaauw, p. 401. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1965.

E:

ESO:

HP: Haute Provence

Pal: Palomar (from Adventures in Deep Space)

15 very faint globular clusters discovered within the POSS (Palomar Observatory Sky Survey). At least some are observable with large aperture amateur instruments, though. Pal 1-13 from Table I in: Abell G.O., 1955. Globular Clusters and Planetary Nebulae Discovered on the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 67, No. 397, p.258 (August 1955) - Table II is in the Abell Catalog of Planetary Nebulae. Added later: Pal 14 = Arp 1 = C 1608+150 (1960), Pal 15 = An. (Zwicky) = C 1657-004. Palomar 12 was once thought to be a nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Capricornus Dwarf).

Ter: Terzan (from Adventures in Deep Space)

11 globulars discovered by Agop Terzan (France) in the infrared; mostly heavily obscured and situated near the Galactic Center. Originally 12 entries, of which the original Terzan 11 was a rediscovery of Terzan 5; newer lists renumber the original Terzan 12 as Terzan 11. Terzan 7 and 8 are probably members of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy. Mikkel Steine suggests that Terzan 3 and Terzan 6 and possibly Terzan 10 may be open clusters.

• Barbara Wilson's Terzan globular cluster observations

References:
Terzan 1: Un nouvel amas globulaire dans la region DU centre de la Voie lactee (A new globular cluster in the region of the center of the Milky Way). C.R. Acad. Sci. Ser. B, 263, 221-222 (1966).
Terzan 2: un nouvel amas globularie dans la region centrale de la Galaxie (a new globular cluster in the central region of the Galaxy). C.R. Acad. Sci. Ser. B, 265, 734-736 (1967).
Terzan 3-8: Six nouveaux amas stellaires (Terzan 3-8) dans la region du centre de la Voie lactee et les constellations du Scorpion et du Sagittaire (Six new star clusters (Terzan 3-8) in the region of the center of the Milky Way and the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius). C.R. Acad. Sci. Ser. B, 267, 1245-1248 (1968).
Terzan 9-12: Quatre nouveaux amas stellaires dans la direction de la region centrale de la Galaxie (Four new star clusters in the direction of the central region of the Galaxy). Astr. Astrophys. 12:477-481 (1971)

Ton: Tonantzintla

UKS: UK Schmidt

Three globular clusters were cataloged under UKS designations, one of them, (UKS 1751-241) is frequently referenced as UKS-1, while UKS 1636-283 (ESO452-SC11) was sometimes referred to as UKS-2. A third reference, UKS 0923-545 is no more in the current list of Milky Way globular clusters. Reference for UKS-1: Malkan M., Kleinmann D.E., Apt J., Infrared studies of globular clusters near the Galactic Center. ApJ., 237, 432-437 (1980)

Galaxies

Arp

Halton Arp, Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 14:1 (1966), and California Institute of Technology (reprinted 1978) - now available online [unframed version]. Also note Dennis Webb's Arp Galaxies Webpages and ourMessier Galaxies in the Arp Catalog page.

AM: Arp-Madore

Halton C. Arp, Barry F. Madore. A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations: Positions and Descriptions (Vol 1), Selected Photographs (Vol 2), Cambridge University Press. Thanks to Mike Smith of COMET/UCAR for providing this information.

DDO: David Dunlop Observatory

Sidney van den Bergh. Luminosity Classifications of Dwarf Galaxies. Astronomical Journal, 71:922-926 (1966)

GR: Gibson Reaves

Gibson Reaves. Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Astronomical Journal, 61:69-75 (1956)

Holm: Holmberg

Nine galaxies, Holmberg I-IX. Holmberg I, II, III and IX are in M 81 region. Holmberg IV, V are in M 101 region. Holmberg I-V: Holmberg, Erik, 1950. A photometric study of nearby galaxies. Lund Medd. Astron. Obs. Ser. II, 128, 1 (1950). Holmberg VI-VIII: Holmberg, Erik, 1958. A photographic photometry of extragalactic nebulae. Lund Medd. Astron. Obs. Ser. II, 136, 1 (1958). Holmberg IX from later literature (RC2 quotes Ark.f.A., 5, No. 20, 1969).

Mrk: Markarian

B.E. Markarian, V.A Lipovetskii, J.A. Stepanian, L.K. Erastova, A.I. Shapovalova, Soobscheniya Spetsialnoi Astrofizicheskoi Observatorii 62, 5 (1989). Catalog of some 1515 Galaxies. Available online thanks to Bill Keel (University of Alabama)

MCG: Morphiological Catalogue of Galaxies

Vorontsov-Velyaminov and Arhipova, Moscow State University, 1962-1968, 4 volumes. Contains 29,000 objects. Also referred to as VV.

PGC: Principal Galaxies Catalogue

Paturel, Fouque, Bottineli, and Gougenheim, Observatoire de Lyon, France

UGC: Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies

Nilson, Uppsala, 1973. Contains 12921 objects.

UGC-A, UA: Catalogue of Selected Non-UGC Galaxies

VV: Vorontsov-Velyaminov

= MCG

1Z to 7Z: Zwicky

Fritz Zwicky's compact systems

RC3: Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies

G. de Vaucoulears, A. de Vaucouleurs, Corwin, Buta, Fouque, and Paturel; 1991.

Clusters of Galaxies

Abell

G.O. Abell. The Distribution of Rich Clusters of Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 3:211 (1958). The Abell Clusters of Galaxies List is available online thanks to Mikkel Steine.

RCG: Catalogue of Rich Clusters of Galaxies

Abell, Corwin, Olowin; Centre de Donnees Stellaires, Strasbourg, France 1989.

Double and Multiple Stars

ADS: Aitken, New General Catalog of Double Stars

R.G. Aitken. New General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 120 deg of the North Pole. Washington, DC, 1932; Carnegie Inst.

Beta, BDS: Burnham

S.W. Burnham. A General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 121 deg of the North Pole. Washington, DC, 1906; Carnegie Inst.

Sigma: F.G.W. Struve

O Sigma: Otto Struve

Win, WNC, Winnecke.

The Winnecke Catalog of seven double stars, included in a paper of A. Winnecke (Astronomische Nachrichten No. 1738, vol 73, p 147-160, Feb 8, 1869). Important only as it contains M40. Available online.

• More astronomical catalogs are available and accessible online at Nasa's Astronomical Data Center, typically in machine-readable versions. Deepsky catalogs are found in their Nonstellar and Extended Objects catalog collection.
• Comprehensive collections of catalogs, cross references ofor objects, etc can be found at SIMBAD and NED
• Also of potential interest: IAU Specifications concerning designations of objects beyond the solar system.

Last Modification: 14 Feb 1998, 17:30 MET