Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 42

The Herschel Sprint

One Amazing Night: Herschel's Spring Success
ABELL 1656
NGC

Herschel No.

Con

Mag (v)

Size

RA

Dec

4283

II 323 = II 377

Com

12.1

1.5′ × 1.5′

12h 20.4m

+29° 19′

2.2′ × 1.2′

12h

22.4m

+29° 13′

1.6′ × 1.4′

12h

25.0m

+28° 34′

3.2′ × 3.0′

12h

25.9m

+27° 34′

28.3m

+28° 37′

4310

II 378

4375

II 379

4393

III 361

Com
Com
Com

12.3
13.0
12.2

4448

I 91

Com

11.2

3.9′ × 1.4′

12h

4475

III 362

Com

13.5

2.0′ × 1.0′

12h 29.8m

+27° 15′

4556

II 380

Com

13.2

1.2′ × 1.0′

12h 35.8m

+26° 55′

12h

36.0m

IC 4051

NGC 4927

+27° 58′

I 92

Com

10.0

10.7′ × 4.4′

4692

II 381

Com

12.8

1.3′ × 1.3′

12h 47.9m

+27° 13′

4793

I 93

Com

11.9

2.8′ × 1.5′

12h 54.7m

+28° 56′

54.9m

+27° 25′

4798

II 382

Com

13.2

1.2′ × 0.9′

12h

4816

II 383

Com

12.8

1.3′ × 1.1′

12h 56.2m

+27° 45′

4827

II 384

Com

12.8

1.4′ × 1.3′

12h 56.7m

+27° 11′

4.0′ × 1.9′

12h

57.4m

+27° 30′

57.5m

+27° 37′

4839

II 386

Com

12.1

4840

II 385

Com

13.9

0.7′ × 0.7′

12h

4841

II 387

Com

13.1

1.6′ × 1.0′

12h 57.5m

+28° 29′

0.7′ × 0.7′

12h

59.4m

+27° 55′

1.9′ × 1.9′

12h

59.6m

+27° 58′

00.1m

+27° 59′

4869

II 388

4874

II 389

Com
Com

13.8
12.2

4889

II 391

Com

11.9

2.9′ × 1.9′

13h

4892

II 390

Com

13.8

1.3′ × 0.3′

13h 00.1m

+28° 00′

NGC 4869
NGC 4923
NGC 4911

William and Caroline Herschel discovered some 20 new
galaxies in the heart of the Coma Cluster (Abell 1656).

Visit Skypub.com/herschelsprint for the
V
entire listing of Herschel's night of discovery.

+26° 54′

00.9m

NGC 4874

NGC 4921

POSS-II / STSCI / CALTECH / PALOMAR OBSERVATORY

4559

NGC 4889

IC 4051

III 363

Com

13.2

1.0′ × 0.9′

13h

4911

II 392

Com

13.2

1.4′ × 1.3′

13h 00.9m

+27° 47′

2.5′ × 2.2′

13h

01.4m

+27° 53′

0.8′ × 0.8′

13h

01.5m

+27° 51′

0.8′ × 0.6′

13h

02.0m

+28° 00′

1.7′ × 0.6′

13h

03.8m

+28° 11′

1.8′ × 1.1′

13h

05.0m

+29° 07′

1.2′ × 1.0′

13h

05.2m

+27° 34′

1.6′ × 1.1′

13h

05.8m

+27° 44′

1.1′ × 0.7′

13h

08.5m

+28° 19′

1.7′ × 1.4′

13h

09.8m

+28° 54′

2.1′ × 1.1′

13h

13.5m

+27° 48′

2.0′ × 0.7′

13h

22.9m

+26° 59′

0.7′ × 0.7′

13h

37.4m

+27° 25′

1.6′ × 0.4′

13h

39.9m

+28° 24′

1.0′ × 1.0′

15h

34.8m

+28° 39′

1.0′ × 1.0′

15h

47.8m

+28° 39′

4921
4923
4927
4944
4952
4957
4961
4983
5000
5032
5116
5251
5263
5958
6001

II 393
II 394
III 364
II 395
II 396 = III 303
II 397
II 398
III 365
III 366
III 367
III 368
III 369
III 370
II 399
III 371

Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Com
Boö
CVn
CrB
CrB

12.3
13.7
13.8
12.9
13.0
13.1
12.8
14.0
13.4
12.8
12.9
13.9
13.4
12.7
13.7

Angular sizes and separations are from recent catalogs. Visually, an object's size is often smaller
than the cataloged value and varies according to the aperture and magniﬁcation of the viewing
instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0.

42

April 2015 sky & telescope

who faithfully recorded positions and descriptions for
each and every object, writing them down in her register
with a quill pen! Unfortunately, William didn't recognize
the cluster of nebulae he'd discovered, even though he
recorded 23 of them. Discovery of the Coma Cluster is
generally credited to Heinrich d'Arrest, who noted the
group of faint nebulae in 1865.
Accepting that NGC 4209 doesn't exist, and that William had discovered NGC 4278, NGC 4283, and NGC
4952 previously, that still gave the Herschels a total of 70
newly discovered galaxies, an unprecedented accomplishment, and one never equaled by any of the 72 nineteenthcentury visual observers who subsequently contributed
to Dreyer's New General Catalogue. The only observer
to come close was John Herschel, who recorded 38 new
objects, 34 of them in the Large Magellanic Cloud, on
December 23, 1834. Even more remarkable: there are
7,093 independent objects in the New General Catalogue,
eliminating duplicate entries, nonexistent objects, and
entries associated with single, double, or multiple stars.
Fully one percent of those 7,000+ objects were discovered
on one night, April 11, 1785, by one of the greatest visual
observers of all time. ✦
Mark Bratton is the author of The Complete Guide to the
Herschel Objects (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
http://www.Skypub.com/herschelsprint
Sky and Telescope - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - April 2015
