Common Names for Astronomical Objects

 

The various deep sky objects found in the night sky like galaxies, bright and dark nebulas, globular clusters, open clusters all have proper scientific names.If it is a bright and well known object it may also have a common name or a name given to it by some amateur because of its appearance in his/her telescope. In some cases the professional astronomers can't resist giving out a nickname. The  galaxy  called M 33 is also called NGC 224 and  the '' Pinwheel'', because of it's beautiful spiral arms that appear in long exposure photographs.  The M in the M 33 refers to the most used catalogue of astro.objects used by the amateur, the Messier catalogue. This list of 110 objects for the small telescope was originally made by Charles Messier in the 1700's so that he would not confuse these faint fuzzies ( as they appeared in his small refractors) with what he was actually looking for, which was comets.  Many of the Messier object have other amateur names as well. This list  was the first  list of deep sky objects compiled although ancient astronomers had noticed a few of the brighter ones nobody paid much attention to them. Of course there are many more deep sky objects than this and the NGC or New General Catalogue harkens back to the days of William Herschel and the more than 2000 objects he discovered.

Here is a list of some of my favourite object names :

 

the Beehive ; a big bright open cluster of stars in Cancer, & an excellent binocular object

                   also called M 44, or Praesepe, or NGC 2632

Blackeye galaxy ; a 8.5 magnitude galaxy in Leo with a dark marking in the center

                           also called M64 or NGC 4826

Blue Snowball ;  a bright planetary nebula in Andromeda, shows color in large telescopes

                       also called NGC 7662

Cats Eye nebula ; a small bright planetary in Draco

                          also called NGC 6543 or PK96+29.1

Coal Sack ; a large dark nebula in Crux, measuring about 7*x5* across, appearing nearly                       starless to the eye, visible in the southern hemisphere  

Coathanger Cluster ; an open cluster  in Vulpecula that really does look like a coathanger in binoculars. Also called Brocchi's cluster or Collinder 399

Crab Nebula ; supernova remnant  in Taurus because of its appearance in long exposure photos, also called M 1 or NGC 1952

 

Dumbell Nebula ; a very large, bright planetary nebula in Vulpecula that looks like two hazy masses in contact in photos but  has a retangular appearance to the eye. Also called M 27 or NGC 6853 or PK60-6.1

Double Cluster ; nice pair of open clusters in Perseus visible in binoc's

                         also called NGC 884 & 869

Eagle nebula ; a cluster with emision nebula in Serpens, also called M16

                   Burnham suggested the name Star Queen, also NGC 6611

Eskimo nebula ; a small bright planetary in Gemini, also called the Clown nebula

                        or NGC 2392

"Ghost of Jupiter" ; a bright planetary nebula in Hydra, looks like a faded planet hence     the name. Also called NGC 3242  or PK 261+32.1

 

Inkspot ; dark nebula in Sagittarius, also called B 86

 

Jewel Box ; an open cluster of stars in Crux in the southern hemisphere, many tinted,

                  also called NGC 4755

Lagoon nebula ; a large emission nebula in Sagittarius with a dark lane

                         also called M8 or NGC 6530

Owl Nebula ;  large planetary nebula in Ursa Major with two dark spots like eyes

                     visible in large telescopes, also called M 97 or NGC 3587 or PK148+57.1

Ring nebula ; classic ring shaped planetary nebula in Lyra , also called M57 or

                      NGC 6720

Silver Coin galaxy ; very large galaxy in Sculptor, also called NGC 253 or H V 1

Sombrero galaxy ; classic dark lane galaxy in Virgo looks sort of like the hat

                              also called M 104, NGC 4594

Veil nebula ;  supernova remnant in Cygnus, wonderful sight in a wide field

                     also called the Bridal Veil nebula,  It has two halves one half

                     NGC 6992 is often called The Filamentary nebula, and the

                     other half, NGC 6960 is called the Network nebula. The larger the telescope

                     the more diaphanous and textured they appear.

Whirlpool Galaxy,  big spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, also called M 51, and NGC 5195

                               and H 1 186

Wild Duck Cluster ; a very rich dense open cluster in Scutum, supposedly resembling a

                               flock of ducks in flight (?) , also called M 11 and NGC 6705

 

I like these names because they add color to many interesting objects that have dull catalogue names. Of course this is only a hand full, there are many more and no doubt new ones will be invented in the years to come.

                                                                      John K. Bakkelund ,    4/14/2000