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Sir J. Herschel — Catalogue of NehulcB. 



[Nov. 19, 



III. " A General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars for the 

 Year 1860-0, with Precessions for 1880'0/' By Sir J. F. W. 

 Herschel, Bart., F.R.S. Beceived Oct. 16, 1863. 



(Abstract.) 



This Catalogue contains all the nebulae and clusters of stars which its 

 compiler has been able to find anywhere described, and identified in posi- 

 tion suflSciently to warrant their inclusion, with exception of a few which, 

 having been observed by Lacaille or others with telescopes of very small 

 power, have been obviously nothing but insignificant groups of small stars 

 indistinctly seen. The number of objects comprised in it is 5078, including 

 — 1st. 2508 nebulse and clusters described by the late Sir Wm. Herschel 

 in his Catalogues of Nebulae communicated to the Royal Society. 2ndly. 

 Those comprised in the lists published by Messier, discovered by himself, 

 Mairan, Oriani, and others, to the number of 102. 3rdly. Those con- 

 tained in M. Auwers's list of "New Nebulae" (Verzeichniss neuer Nebel- 

 flecke) at the end of his Catalogue of Sir Wm. Herschel' s nebulae (about 

 50 in number), and those few of Lacaille's nebulae which seem entitled to 

 be regarded as such from the description given of them. 4thly. A great 

 many nebulae pointed out by Lord Rosse in his paper in Phil. Trans. 1861, 

 their places being indicated with sufficient probable precision to a,llow of 

 their being re-observed and identified. 5thly. 125 new nebulae obligingly 

 communicated by M. D' Arrest, of his own discovery, for inclusion in this 

 Catalogue; and some few others (some very remarkable ones) collected 

 from various sources, as announced from time to time by their respective 

 discoverers. And 6thly. 15 nebulae not before described, communcated 

 by Professor Bond, which are included in a small supplementary hst. 

 The remainder will be found described and their places (reduced to 1830) 

 given in the Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters communicated to the Royal 

 Society by the compiler in 1833, and in his * Results of Astronomical Ob- 

 servations at the Cape of Good Hope,' published in 1847. 

 ^ The places of the objects contained in the present Catalogue were in the 

 first instance brought up by its compiler to the common epoch (1830), 

 availing himself, so far as respects the nebulae of Sir Wm. Herschel's cata- 

 logues, of a reduction to 1800 of all the individual observations of each 

 nebula, by his sister the late Miss Caroline Herschel, which reduction, 

 arranged in the form of a catalogue in zones, together with the originals of 

 all the " sweeps" in which the observations are contained, and a synoptic 

 register of those of each nebula in separate sheets for reference, with other 

 original papers elucidatory of the above-mentioned documents, as well as 

 the whole series of Sir Wm. Herschel's observations of Messier' s nebulae, 

 accompany this communication for future reference. 



In order, however, to render the catalogue so compiled available for 

 future observation, it was considered desirable to bring the whole up to a 

 later epoch. The computations necessary for this purpose being very 



