History

The creation of the NGC/IC and his revisions

Author / Observer	Catalogue	Abr.	Year	Number	Remarks
Charles Messier and Pierre Mechain	Messier-Catalogue	M	1781	103	M 104-109 and M110 later
William Herschel	Herschel-Catalogue		1802	ca. 2500
John Herschel	General Catalogue	GC	1863	5096
John Louis Emil Dreyer	New General Catalogue	NGC	1888	7840
John Louis Emil Dreyer	First Index Catalogue	IC I	1895	1520	today: IC
John Louis Emil Dreyer	Second Index Catalogue	IC II	1908	3866	today: IC
Karl Reinmuth	Die Herschel-Nebel		1926	ca. 5000	Revision of the GC
Jack Sulentic and William Tifft	Revised New General Catalogue	RNGC	1977	7840	Revision of the NGC
Roger Sinnott	NGC 2000.0		1988	13226	Revision of the NGC/ IC
Wolfgang Steinicke	Revised New General and Index Catalogue		2011	14001	Revision of the NGC/ IC (1. edition 1997)
Wolfgang Steinicke	Historic NGC		2011	7840	Discoverers/dates (1. edition: 6 Jan. 2006)
Wolfgang Steinicke	Historic IC		2011	5386	Discoverers/dates (1. edition: 23 Apr. 2008)

Biographical informationen on 172 NGC/IC observer with 528 pictures

Further reading:

For the history of catalogues see also the website of Hartmut Frommert.
About NGC/IC observers see also the website by Yann Pothier.
Look up "A History of Galaxy Catalogs" from Steve Gottlieb

A Small Collection of Photos on the History of the NGC/IC

	William Herschel (1738-1822) and his sister Lucretia Karoline Herschel (1750-1848)
	William Herschel's 20-foot telescope in Bath (18.5" speculum mirror) used for most of his discoveries
	John Herschel (1792-1871)
	Painting (left) and photo of William Parsons (1800-1867), the Third Earl of Rosse
	Lord Rosse's largest telescope, the "Leviathan of Parsontown", in Birr Castle (72" speculum mirror)
	Lord Rosse's drawing of M 51 from April 1845, showing spiral structure for the first time
	John Louis Emil Dreyer (1852-1926). Director of Armagh Observatory from 1882 to 1916.
	At Armagh Dreyer created the NGC (published in 1888)
	10" Grubb refraktor (Armagh Observatory)
	Frontpage of the NGC/IC (RAS, 1962)
	The first entries of the NGC/ IC.
	Eduard E. Barnard (1857-1923) at the 36" refractor of Lick Observatory
	Strasbourg Observatory and its observers: Winneke, Kobold and (seen here) Ernst Hartwig (1851-1923)
	Left: Portrait of Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (1821-1889) Right: Merope nebula (NGC 1435 in the Plejades), discovered and sketched by Tempel
	Construction of the 6" refractor-dome on the Königstuhl near Heidelberg (Max Wolf seen standing on the scaffold, soon after the topping-out ceremony).