"Historic WH" - Explanation

Dr Wolfgang Steinicke

25 June 2024

The "Historic WH" lists all 2500 objects contained in the three catalogues of William Herschel, published 1786-1802. The catalogues are:

1. Catalogue of one thousand new nebulae and clusters of stars. Phil. Trans. 76 , 457–499 (1786)

2. Catalogue of a second thousand new nebulae and clusters of stars. Phil. Trans. 79, 212–255 (1789)

3. Catalogue of 500 new nebulae, nebulous stars, planetary nebulae, and clusters of stars. Phil. Trans. 92, 477–528 (1802)

The objects in my file are sorted by Herschel's eight classes and the running number within (see explanation of columns below). Click here for download (zipped xls-File). All information presented here is part of my scientific research. My book Obervation and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters - from Herschel to Dreyer's New General Catalogue contains more information about this. It has been published in August 2010 (see here; a german version is on the market since January 2009). Also note that there is a large amount of additional data, not presented here. New results can be found in my upcoming book William Herschel - Discoverer of the Deep-Sky. The epochal work of the greatest visual observer and his talented sister Caroline.

I now show the object number (1...2500), assigned by Caroline according to the time of discovery, and the number of the discovery sweep.

Due to the research of the author, Herschel has found more objects, not listed in the three catalogues. My catalogue contains 75 objects. Click here for download (xls-File). The columns of my file are explained at the bottom of this page.

The data presented here are copyright by the author. When used in a publication or in other datasets, this must be credited properly (please inform me in any case). Please also inform me about errors found in the datasets.

"Historic WH" columns

Columns in my file of 75 uncatalogued Herschel objects