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 and emission 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.
NGC 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. This galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape gives it the appearance of a herring or a whale, hence its nickname. Because this nearby galaxy is seen edge-on from Earth, professional astronomers observe this galaxy to better understand the gas and stars located outside the plane of the galaxy.
NGC 55, is a Magellanic type barred spiral galaxy located about 6.5 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. Along with its neighbor NGC 300, it is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, probably lying between the Milky Way and the Sculptor Group. It has an estimated mass of (2.0 ± 0.4) × 1010M☉.
Messier 102 is a galaxy listed in the Messier Catalogue that cannot be unambiguously identified. Its original discoverer Pierre Méchain retracted his discovery two years after publication and said that it was a duplicate observation of Messier 101. Later historical evidence favors that M102 is actually the galaxy NGC 5866, although other galaxies have been suggested as possible identities. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) considers it to be the same as NGC 5866.
NGC 1, also occasionally referred to as GC 1, UGC 57, PGC 564 or Holm 2a is an intermediate spiral galaxy of the morphological type Sbc, located approximately 210 to 215 million light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered on 30 September 1861 by Heinrich d'Arrest.
NGC 4656/57 is a highly warped barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici and is sometimes informally called the Hockey Stick Galaxies or the Crowbar Galaxy. Its unusual shape is thought to be due to an interaction between NGC 4656, NGC 4631, and NGC 4627. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 4631 Group. A Luminous Blue Variable in "super-outburst" was discovered in NGC 4656/57 on March 21, 2005.
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.
NGC 3384 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel in 1784 as part of the Herschel 400 Catalogue. The high age of the stars in the central region of NGC 3384 was confirmed after analysis of their color. More than 80% were found to be Population II stars which are over a billion years old. The supermassive black hole at the core has a mass of 1.6+0.1
−0.2×107 M☉.
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, USA.
NGC 4236 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Draco.
NGC 4309 is a lenticular galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer Christian Peters in 1881 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
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 5821 is a spiral galaxy with a ring structure in the constellation Boötes. It lies near a similarly massed galaxy, NGC 5820, at the same redshift. Both galaxies were discovered by the astronomer William Herschel.
NGC 178 is a Magellanic spiral galaxy in the constellation of Cetus. The compiler of the New General Catalogue, John Louis Emil Dreyer noted that NGC 178 was "faint, small, much extended 0°, brighter middle". It was discovered on November 3, 1885 by Ormond Stone.
NGC 275 is a barred spiral galaxy located approximately 63 million light-years from the Solar System in the constellation Cetus. It is one of a pair of galaxies, the other being NGC 274. It was discovered on October 9, 1828, by John Herschel.
NGC 523, also known as Arp 158, from the ARP catalog is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered separately by William Herschel on 13 September 1784, and by Heinrich d'Arrest on 13 August 1862. d'Arrest's discovery was listed as NGC 523, while Herschel's was listed as NGC 537; the two are one and the same. John Dreyer noted in the New General Catalogue that NGC 523 is a double nebula.
NGC 4873 is a lenticular galaxy located about 270 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. NGC 4873 was discovered by astronomer Heinrich d'Arrest on May 10, 1863. The galaxy is a member of the Coma Cluster.
NGC 965 is a spiral galaxy approximately 294 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cetus. It was discovered by American astronomer Ormond Stone in 1886 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory.
NGC 2798 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Lynx. NGC 2798 and NGC 2799 are listed under the Arp Catalogue as Arp 283 and noted as an "interacting galaxy pair". The galaxy is listed in the New General Catalogue.
NGC 5422 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered on April 14, 1789 by the astronomer William Herschel.
