Going Deep, the NGC and IC Project

 

This  presentation highlights how a group of amateur and professional astronomers (The NGC/IC Project) have re-examined the source material used to compile the original NGC in 1888 and have produced a corrected NGC that reflects the original visual discoveries.

The NGC and IC objects were discovered over 100 years ago, but 15% - 20% have identification problems â€" poor positions, misidentifications, duplicate entries, incorrect classifications, and confusion with single or multiple stars. The NGC/IC sleuths have recovered hundreds of mistaken identities, lost objects, and solved long-standing contradictions in professional and amateur databases.

The NGC/IC Project's corrected database is now incorporated into several amateur software programs (SkySafari, StarryNight, TheSky, Voyager, Guide, SkyMap Pro, Cartes du Ciel, and more) as well as professional online databases such as as NASA-IPAC Extragalactic Database, SIMBAD and HyperLeda. In this talk he will discuss the history of the NGC and give several examples of their catalogue sleuthing.

Speaker: Steve Gottlieb, Amateur Astronomer