Ahnert's list of Demonstration Objects

Ahnert's list of Deepsky Objects

East-German yearbook author Paul Ahnert has included in his Kalender für Sternfreunde, among other useful stuff, lists of easy deepsky objects for demonstration in schools and public events. He writes that these objects should be visible in telescopes starting at 2-inch, some even with smaller scopes, or the naked eye, and from locations in East Germany. Naturally, these lists consist to a large percentage of Messier objects.

These lists have survived in his yearbook after his death, German re-unification (to be mentioned as many East German products did not survive), and the improvement of East German amateur equipment. In the newer editions, the proper Ahnert numbers (our first column) were omitted though.

There is each one separate list for

Open Clusters
Gaseous Nebulae (all sorts)
Globular Clusters
Bright Extragalactic Objects

The data given here is that given by Ahnert, presented unchanged. It may differ from the more modern data elsewhere in our database.

Key to all tables: Num: Ahnert number, NGC#/M-#: NGC and Messier number; RA/Dec: Right ascension and Declination (2000.0); dim: Angular dimension (in arc minutes), mag: Apparent magnitude (visual unless marked "p" for photographic)

Open Clusters

Num  NGC#  M-#  RA    Dec    Dim  mag  mag* N-* age/Myr  Notes

S 1   869    -  02:19 +57.2   30  4.3p 6.6  200     5.6  h Persei
S 2   884    -  02:22 +57.1   30  4.4p 8.1  150     3.2  chi Persei
S 3     -   45  03:47 +24.1  110  1.2  2.9  100    78    Pleiades
S 4  1912   38  05:29 +35.8   21  6.4  9.5  100   220
S 5  1960   36  05:36 +34.1   12  6.0  8.9   60    25
S 6  2099   37  05:52 +32.6   24  5.6  9.2  150   300
S 7  2168   35  05:52 +24.3   28  5.1  8.2  200   110
S 8  2323   50  06:09 - 8.4   16  5.9  7.9   80    78
S 9  2632   44  08:40 +20.0   95  3.1  6.3   50   660    Praesepe
S10  2682   67  08:50 +11.8   30  6.9  9.7  200  3200
S11  6633    -  18:28 + 6.6   27  4.6  7.6   30   660
S12  6705   11  18:51 - 6.3   14  5.8  8.0  200   220

Extra key: mag*: Apparent magnitude of the brightest star; N-*: Number of stars; age/Myr: Age in million years; Notes: Common name

Gaseous Nebulae

Num  NGC#  M-#  RA    Dec    Dim      mag mag*  Type  Notes

G 1  1952    1  05:35 +22.0   6x 4    8.4 15.9  d*    Crab Nebula
G 2  1976   42  05:35 - 5.5  66x60    2.9    -  d     Orion Nebula
G 3  6611   16  18:19 -13.8  35x28    6.6    -  d     Eagle Nebula
G 4  6618   17  18:21 -16.2  46x37    6.9    -  d     Omega Nebula
G 5  6720   57  18:54 +33.0   1x 1.4  9.7 14.8  p     Ring Nebula
G 6  6853   27  20:00 +22.7   7x 8    7.5 13.9  p     Dumbbell Nebula

Extra key: mag*: Apparent magnitude of the central star (if present); Type: d: diffuse nebula, p: planetary nebula
*: Actually, a supernova remnant.

Globular Clusters

Num  NGC#  M-#  RA    Dec    Dim  mag  Dist

K 1  5272    3  13:42 +28.4   16  6.4  32
K 2  5904    5  15:19 + 2.1   17  5.8  25
K 3  6205   13  16:42 +36.5   17  5.9  23
K 4  6341   92  17:17 +43.1   11  6.5  25
K 5  6656   22  18:36 -23.9   24  5.1  10
K 6  7078   15  21:30 +12.2   12  6.4  31
K 7  7089    2  21:34 - 0.9   13  6.5  37

Extra key: Dist: Distance in 1000 light years

Bright Extragalactic Objects

Num  NGC#  M-#  RA    Dec    Dim     mag  Type       Notes

E 1   205  110  00:40 +41.7   17x10  8.0  E6         L
E 2   221   32  00:43 +40.9    8x 6  8.2  E2         L
E 3   224   31  00:43 +41.3  178x63  3.5  Sb I-II    L, Andromeda Galaxy
E 4   598   33  01:34 +30.7   62x39  5.7  Sc II-III  L, Triangulum Galaxy
E 5  1068   77  02:43 - 0.0    7x 6  8.8  Sbp
E 6  2403    -  07:37 +65.6   18x11  8.4  Sc III
E 7  3031   81  09:56 +69.1   26x14  6.9  Sb I-II
E 8  3034   82  09:56 +69.7   11x 5  8.4  Ir
E 9  4258  106  12:19 +47.3   18x 8  8.3  Sb+p
E10  4472   49  12:30 + 8.0    9x 7  8.4  E4         V
E11  4486   87  12:31 +12.4    7x 7  8.6  E1         V, Virgo A
E12  4594  104  12:40 -11.6    9x 4  8.3  Sb-        Sombrero Galaxy
E13  4736   94  12:51 +41.1   11x 9  8.9  Sb-p II
E14  4826   64  12:57 +21.7    9x 5  8.5  Sb-
E15  5055   63  13:16 +42.0   12x 8  8.6  Sb+ II
E16  5194   51  13:30 +47.2   11x 8  8.4  Sc I
E17  5457  101  14:03 +54.4   27x26  7.7  Sc I

Extra key: Type: Type according to the Sky Catalog 2000: S: spiral galaxy (Sa-c: Hubble type, I,II,III: Luminosity class), E: elliptical, Ir: Irregular; Notes: Common Name, and/or: L: Local Group member, V: Virgo cluster member

More Deepsky Observing lists

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: February 8, 1998