The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters, emission nebulae and absorption nebulae. Dreyer published two supplements to the NGC in 1895 and 1908, known as the Index Catalogues, describing a further 5,386 astronomical objects. Thousands of these objects are best known by their NGC or IC numbers, which remain in widespread use.
The Jewel Box is an open cluster in the constellation Crux, originally discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751–1752. This cluster was later named the Jewel Box by John Herschel when he described its telescopic appearance as "...a superb piece of fancy jewellery". It is easily visible to the naked eye as a hazy star some 1.0° southeast of the first-magnitude star Mimosa. This hazy star was given the Bayer star designation "Kappa Crucis", from which the cluster takes one of its common names. The modern designation Kappa Crucis has been assigned to one of the stars in the base of the A-shaped asterism of the cluster
NGC 752 is an open cluster in the constellation Andromeda. The cluster was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783 and cataloged by her brother William Herschel in 1786, although an object that may have been NGC 752 was described by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654.
NGC 2360 is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major. It was discovered on 26 February 1783, by Caroline Herschel who wrote, "A beautiful cluster of pretty compressed stars near 1/2 degree in diameter." Her notes were overlooked until her brother William included the cluster in his 1786 catalogue of 1000 clusters and nebulae and acknowledged her as the discoverer. The cluster lies 3.5 degrees east of Gamma Canis Majoris and less than one degree northwest of the eclipsing binary star R Canis Majoris; it has a combined apparent magnitude of 7.2. It is 13 arc minutes in diameter. By the western edge of the cluster is the unrelated star, 5.5-magnitude HD 56405.
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 Morrison, 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, USA.
NGC 6334, colloqually known as the Cat's Paw Nebula, Bear Claw Nebula, or Gum 64, is an emission nebula and star-forming region located in the constellation Scorpius. It was discovered by astronomer John Herschel in 1837, who observed it from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The nebula is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, at a distance of approximately 5.5 kilolight-years from the Sun
NGC 559 is an open cluster and Caldwell object in the constellation Cassiopeia. It shines at magnitude +9.5. Its celestial coordinates are RA 01h 29.5m, dec +63° 18′. It is located near the open cluster NGC 637, and the bright magnitude +2.2 irregular variable star Gamma Cassiopeiae. The cluster is 7 arcmins across.
NGC 4889 is an E4 supergiant elliptical galaxy. It was discovered in 1785 by the British astronomer Frederick William Herschel I, who catalogued it as a bright, nebulous patch. The brightest galaxy within the northern Coma Cluster, it is located at a median distance of 94 million parsecs from Earth. At the core of the galaxy is a supermassive black hole that heats the intracluster medium through the action of friction from infalling gases and dust. The gamma ray bursts from the galaxy extend out to several million light years of the cluster.
NGC 6756 is a small open star cluster in the constellation Aquila, close to NGC 6755.
NGC 6204 is an open cluster in the constellation Ara, lying close to the galactic equator. It is 3,540 ly distant from Earth. The cluster was discovered on 13 May 1826 by British astronomer James Dunlop.
NGC 2281 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga.
NGC 4866 is an unbarred lenticular galaxy located roughly 100 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was first observed by British astronomer Sir William Herschel on January 14, 1787. It is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
NGC 5617 is an open cluster in the constellation Centaurus. NGC 5617 forms a binary open cluster with Trumpler 22. It lies one degree west-northwest of Alpha Centauri.
NGC 7429 is an open cluster in the constellation Cepheus. The object was discovered on 29 September 1829 by the British astronomer John Herschel.
NGC 3316 is a barred lenticular galaxy located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 26, 1835. NGC 3316 is a member of the Hydra Cluster, and appears to have a small companion galaxy known as HCC 15.
NGC 2527 is an open cluster in the constellation Puppis. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 9, 1784. The cluster was also observed by John Herschel on January 7, 1831. He also observed it on February 5, 1837, identifying it as a different object, which was catalogued as NGC 2520. It is a poor cluster and with no central concentration, with Trumpler class III1p.
NGC 4380 is an unbarred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Virgo. Located about 52.2 million light-years away, is a member of the Virgo Cluster, a large galaxy cluster. It was discovered on March 10, 1826 by the astronomer John Herschel.
NGC 1444 is a small open cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Perseus, about 2-1⁄4° to the northwest of 43 Persei. It has an angular diameter of 4 arcminutes and a brightness of 6.60 in visual magnitude. The cluster has sixty members of seventh magnitude or fainter, and is better appreciated in larger telescopes. NGC 1444 was discovered on 18 December 1788 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel. It is located at a distance of 4,200 light-years from the Sun and is about 7.1 million years old. The cluster has a physical core radius of 1.73 ± 0.42 ly and a tidal radius of 17.4 ± 4.2 ly. The most prominent member is the triple star system Σ446, with a magnitude 6.7 primary. The cluster is a member of the Camelopardalis OB1 association.
NGC 657 is an open cluster containing very few stars or a group of stars located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel in 1831.
NGC 1353 is a barred spiral galaxy situated in constellation of Eridanus. Located about 70 milion light years, it is a member of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, a cluster of about 200 galaxies. It was discovered by William Herschel on 9 December 1784.
