Discovering The Universe

- New General Catalog



 The New General Catalog   

William Herschel
Sir William Herschel **1





Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) was one of the most prolific early astronomers. An accomplished musician, composer and telescope maker, he and his sister Caroline discovered/cataloged over 5,000 deep space objects. The first catalog was published in 1802 with 2,500 objects. The second publication was in 1820 with 5,000 objects.    



Herschel 40ft Telescope
Herschel's 40 ft Telescope **2





As a prolific telescope maker he was world renowned for building large, state of the art telescopes. For 50 years his most famous 40 ft scope was the largest in the world.    





Caroline Herschel
Caroline Herschel **3





King George III funded the development of the 40 ft and between 1789-1840 it stood on the grounds of the Herschel's home. The King also provided Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) with a pension of £50 as William's assistant, making her the first woman in England to be paid as an astronomer. Caroline was her brother’s constant companion and assistant in recording their astronomical discoveries.    





John Herschel
Sir John Herschel **4





After Sir William’s death in 1822 his son, Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), continued his family’s work of discovering and cataloging the visual universe. John travelled to South Africa to expand the catalog by studying the southern skies. He added 1754 objects and published an updated version of the General Catalogue in 1864.





John Dreyer
John Dreyer **5




The catalog was later corrected and edited by John Dreyer (1852-1926), supplemented with the work of many other 19th century astronomers and published again as the New General Catalog (NGC). This version had 7,840 deep-sky objects. The NGC numbering is still the most common label identifying these objects today.

There have been continuing updates and corrections applied to the NGC including two as recently as 2009 and 2019.


The Herschels were an amazing family!
Here is a sampling of their accomplishments and discoveries:

Sir William Herschel

  • Discoverer Uranus including 2 of its moons and 2 moons of Saturn
  • Discovered infrared radiation
  • Deep space surveys
  • First President of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • Pioneered astronomical spectroscopy
  • An accomplished musician
  • Composer of 24 symphonies and many concertos
  • Maker and international seller of 60+ state of the art telescopes
  • Builder of the world’s largest telescope (at that time) - 4 ft dia. mirror and 40 ft. focal length
  • Discovered/cataloged 848 binary/multi-star systems
  • Discovered/cataloged over 2,400 deep space objects

Caroline Herschel

  • Recorded and catalogued thousands of observations in collaboration with brother, William
  • Independently discovered 14 deep space objects
  • Helped with the polishing of many mirrors for high performance telescopes
  • Discovered 8 comets
  • Was the first paid female astronomer in England and the first female in a government position
  • Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828
  • Published the final version catalog of hers and William’s work
  • Awarded a Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia

Sir John Herschel

  • Was one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820
  • Awarded the Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society in 1826 and 1836
  • Awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society for contributions in mathematics
  • Discovered/catalogued over 1754 deep space objects in the southern hemisphere
  • Awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society for contributions in astronomy
  • Made numerous important contributions to the science/chemistry of photography
  • Published papers and articles on many topics including entries for meteorology,
    physical geography and the telescope in the 8th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica


Sources:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_General_Catalogue
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Herschel
https://www.space.com/17432-william-herschel.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Herschel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Herschel

** - Photo Credits:
        1 - © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
        2 - Public Domain
        3 - © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
        4 - Public Domain
        5 - Public Domain