Historical Deep Sky Object List

This list summarizes all deep sky objects which are known or seriously assumed to have been discovered before William Herschel began his great Deep Sky survey in September, 1782.

We give the identification by name or catalog number, basic astronomical data, discovery data, and possible common names for each object. As these objects have all been detected with moderate equipment, they are all within the range of even modest modern amateur telescopes.

This project was partly inspired by a fruitful discussion with Glen Cozens. Data are partly based on the original Messier data, collected by Guy McArthur and updated by the authors with the help of Bill Arnett.

The Historical Deep Sky Object List is available in various formats:

• ordered by Right Ascension, 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines per object
• ordered by Declination, 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines per object
• ordered by Constellation, 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines per object
• ordered by Catalog Number or Name, 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines per object
• ordered.by Discovery Date, 1 line, 2 lines and 3 lines per object

See below for a short object list.

The Historical Deep Sky Object List summarizes a total of 152 object entries, all of which were probably discovered early. By obvious reasons (especially publishing date), the list contains all 110 Messier objects, although one could dispute is the "dubious objects" M24, M40, and M73 should be included. The additional 42 entries were mostly discovered earlier, and most of them (32) are open star clusters; there are no planetary nebulae, supernova remnants, elliptical and lenticular galaxies among them, and the only spiral galaxy in this list is our own, the Milky Way. There are no "other" objects between the additional ones, also for obvious reasons. The following table summarizes the numbers of objects for each type, we give separate numbers for the additional, the Messier, and all objects:

Type                  Additional     Messier       Total

Supernova Remnants         0            1            1
Planetary Nebulae          0            4            4
Diffuse Nebulae            2            6 [+1]       8 [+1]

Nebulae                    2           11           13

Open Clusters             32           27           59
Globular Clusters          4           29           33

Clusters                  36           56           92

Spiral Galaxies            1           27           28
Lenticular Galaxies        0            4            4
Elliptical Galaxies        0            8            8
Irregular Galaxies         3            1            4

Galaxies                   4           40           44

Other                      0            3            3

Total                     42          110          152

M  1              M 52               M103
M  2              M 53               M104
M  3              M 54               M105
M  4              M 55               M106
M  5              M 56               M107
M  6              M 57               M108
M  7              M 58               M109
M  8              M 59               M110
M  9              M 60               47 Tuc (NGC 104)
M 10              M 61               SMC (NGC 292)
M 11              M 62               NGC 752
M 12              M 63               h Per (NGC 869)
M 13              M 64               Chi Per (NGC 884)
M 14              M 65               NGC 2070
M 15              M 66               NGC 2244
M 16              M 67               NGC 2362
M 17              M 68               NGC 2451
M 18              M 69               NGC 2477
M 19              M 70               NGC 2516
M 20              M 71               NGC 2546
M 21              M 72               NGC 2547
M 22              M 73               NGC 3228
M 23              M 74               NGC 3293
M 24              M 75               NGC 3372
M 25              M 76               NGC 3532
M 26              M 77               NGC 3766
M 27              M 78               Kappa Cru (NGC 4755)
M 28              M 79               NGC 4833
M 29              M 80               Omega Cen (NGC 5139)
M 30              M 81               NGC 5195
M 31              M 82               NGC 5281
M 32              M 83               NGC 5662
M 33              M 84               NGC 6025
M 34              M 85               NGC 6124
M 35              M 86               NGC 6231
M 36              M 87               NGC 6242
M 37              M 88               NGC 6397
M 38              M 89               NGC 6530
M 39              M 90               NGC 6633
M 40              M 91               o Vel (IC 2391)
M 41              M 92               IC 2488
M 42              M 93               IC 2602
M 43              M 94               IC 4665
M 44              M 95               Cr  399
M 45              M 96               Mel  20
M 46              M 97               Mel  25
M 47              M 98               Mel 111
M 48              M 99               LMC
M 49              M100               Milky Way
M 50              M101               UMa Cl
M 51              M102? (NGC 5866)

• History of the Discovery of the Deepsky Objects
• Discovery table of the Deepsky Objects
• Other Deep Sky Observing Lists and Catalogs

Last Modification: June 27, 1998