Bode's "Complete Catalog of Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters"

Bode's "Complete Catalog of hitherto observed Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters"

Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826), astronomer in Berlin and discoverer of M81, M82, M53 and M92, compiled a deepsky catalog of 75 entries published 1777 in the Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1779, entitled "A Complete Catalog of hitherto observed Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters" (Bode 1777). This catalog was extended by 2 objects found by Bode (M92 and M64) and published in 1779 (Bode 1779).

Unfortunately, Bode's catalog contains many non-existent objects and uninteresting asterisms, mostly copied from elsewhere; personally he only claims to have observed and determined the positions of only 21 of the 75 objects before publishing his catalog. Possibly, he has observed at least one more object, Bode 1, which is perhaps the original discovery of IC 1434. It appears that Bode just copied together all the catalogs he had available (a method which was later repeated, on a larger number of objects and with more success, by John Herschel when composing the GC, and by J.L.E. Dreyer with his NGC and IC catalogs). Bode's list includes:

all sufficiently northern entries from Lacaille's catalog,
almost all of the 45 objects in the earliest (1774) version of Messier's catalog, missing only M3 and M43 - the latter probably because Bode regarded it part of M42 (especially as he mentions M43 in his description of M42),
many of the existing and non-existing objects of Hevelius and some of Flamsteed,
enriched by his own few findings (again including non-object asterisms).

Bode missed M3 and included only a wrong positions for M28 as well as minor bugs for M53, M69 and M8 [Messier's position] because of data transcription errors (Bode 1781).

Because of this compilation method and sources, he has only 10 of the more conspicuous Messier objects beyond 45 included (mostly from Lacaille), and only three or four real deepsky objects which are not listed in Messier's catalog: Besides his possible original discovery of IC 1434, these are all from Lacaille, namely NGC 2477 = Lacaille I.3, NGC 2546 = Lacaille II.4, and perhaps Collinder 140 = Lacaille II.2 (depending on if this new identification is correct). 21 (or 22, if M40 is included) of the 77 entries do not match any deepsky objects and are either asterisms or simply errata, mostly copied without verification from other sources such as Hevelius.

After publishing his list and supplement, Bode continued to catalog deepsky objects. A notable publication of such a list, of 110 entries, occurred in 1782 in his atlas, "Vorstellung der Gestirne." Again, this list contains all the errata and astrisms mostly inherited from earlier lists, but also some more independent rediscoveries by Bode: An independent rediscovery of M48, for which Bode gives his own correct position, labelled "Monoceros 38" (in addition to listing also Messier's erroneous one), and one of IC 4665 which he cataloged as "Ophiuchus 125."

Bode's Original Catalog

Bode's Original Object Positions

Bode's 1782 catalog

Short biography of J.E. Bode

Please email me if you have or can point me to any help for identifying the remaining entries, or point me to any errors.

Bode  id      Date
      
  1 = IC 1434(?)
  2 = M32 
  3 = M31 
  4           Dec  5, 1774  Asterism near Zeta & Lambda Cas, Bode's discovery
  5 = M33 [!] Aug 18, 1775
  6                         55 And - Fla 217
  7 = M34 [!] Sep  2, 1774
  8 = M45          
  9 = M38     Nov  2, 1774
 10 = M42     late 1775     M43 [!] mentioned in description
 11 = M1      Nov  8, 1774
 12 = M36     Nov  2, 1774
 13 = M37 [!] Nov  2, 1774
 14 = M35     
 15 = M41 
 16 = M50 (!) Dec  2, 1774
 17 = M81  !  Dec 31, 1774
 18 = M82  !  Dec 31, 1774
 19 = Cr 140?               Lac II.2
 20 = M44
 21 = NGC 2477              Lac I.3
 22 = NGC 2546              Lac II.4
 23 = M40 (-)               Messier's position of M40, Winnecke 4
 24        -                Hevelius' position of M40, 74/75 UMa - Hev 1496
 25 = M51 (!) Jan 5 (or 15), 1774
 26 = M53  !  Feb  3, 1775
 27 = M83                   Lac I.6
 28        -                Asterism of Theta1, Theta2, 17, 18 Lib - Hev 953
 29 = M5          
 30 = M13     Sep  9, 1774
 31 = M4      
 32 = M12 [!] Aug 14, 1774
 33 = M10 [!] Aug 14, 1774
 34        -                Asterism of 60 Her, 32, 33, 34 Oph - Hev 804
 35 = M19 
 36 = M9          
 37 = M14 
 38        -                Asterism around 88 Her - Hev 794
 39 = M6          
 40        -                90 f Her - Hev 795
 41 = M7                    = Lac II.14 
 42 = M23 
 43        -                (4 Sgr, near M8)
 44 < M8                    (pt of M8 ?)
 45 = M8                    Le Gentil's position of M8
 46 = NGC 6634              Lac I.11; probably not M69
 47 = M20 
 48 = NGC 6530              7 Sgr, near M8 - Fla 2446
 49 = M8                    Messier's position of M8, near 9 Sgr
 50 = M21 
 51 = M24     
 52 = M16          
 53 = M18          
 54 = M17          
 55                         Hev 1259 (NGC 6639 ?)
 56 = M25    
 57 = M22         
 58 = M28  ?                (pos error; later corrected)
 59 = M26         
 60        -                (Nu 1 Sgr)
 61        -                (Nu 2 Sgr)
 62 = M11     Oct  8, 1774
 63 = M55                   Lac I.14
 64        -                Sigma Cap - Hev 380
 65        -                Rho Cap - Hev 383
 66        -                Omicron Cap - Hev 382
 67 = M27            
 68 = M30            
 69 = M29 [!] Dec  5, 1774  
 70 = M2  [!] Sep (or Oct) 22, 1775  
 71 = M15 [!] Sep 23, 1774
 72        -                Nu2 Cyg; Hev 618 ?
 73        -                34, 35, 36 Peg - Hev 1113
 74        -                North of Cyg; Hev 619 ?
 75 = M39 [!] Oct 27, 1774
[76]= M92  !  Dec 27, 1777
[77]= M64 (!) Apr  4, 1779

      M48 (!)       < 1782
      IC 4665 (!)   < 1782

Exclamation marks mark Bode's original discoveries, in parentheses an independent rediscovery (M50, M51, and M64, and later M48 and IC 4665), in square brackets presumably independent findings of published (in Messier's first catalog) known objects (M2, M10, M12, M15, M29, M33, M34, M37, M39, and M43); question marks indicate doubty identifications and minus signs nonexisting objects (e.g., asterisms, stars taken for nebulae, and errors).

The author thanks Leos Ondra for providing him with a copy of Bode's original catalog which made this work possible.

References:

Johann Elert Bode, 1777. Ueber einige neuentdeckte Nebelsterne und einem vollständigen Verzeichnisse der bisher bekannten, von Herrn Bode [On some newly discovered nebulous stars and a complete catalog of those hitherto known, by Mr. Bode]. Astronomisches Jahrbuch oder Ephemeriden für das Jahr 1779. nebst einer Sammlung der neuesten in die astronomischen Wissenschaften einschlagenden Beobachtungen, Nachrichten, Bemerkungen und Abhandlungen [Astronomical Yearbook or Ephemerides for the Year 1779. besides a collection of the newest observations, news, remarks and treatises impacting into the astronomical sciences]. Berlin, 1777, p. 65-71 & Tab. IV, Fig. 1-15.
Johann Elert Bode, 1779. Astronomisches Jahrbuch oder Ephemeriden für das Jahr 1782. nebst einer Sammlung der neuesten in die astronomischen Wissenschaften einschlagenden Beobachtungen, Nachrichten, Bemerkungen und Abhandlungen. Berlin, 1779, p. 156 (appended to the publication of the Koehler catalog).
Johann Elert Bode, 1781. Astronomisches Jahrbuch für das Jahr 1784. nebst einer Sammlung der neuesten in die astronomischen Wissenschaften einschlagenden Abhandlungen, Beobachtungen und Nachrichten. Berlin, 1781, p. 182 (appended to the publication of Oriani's discoveries).

Short biography of Johann Elert Bode

More Deepsky Observing lists

History of the Discovery of the Deepsky Objects

Some other historical catalogs

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: April 18, 2005