Mechain's additions to Messier's catalogue.
Abstract
During the writer's bibliographical compilation on globular clusters, a long-overlooked letter by Pierre Me chain was found in Bode's Jahrbuch for 1786. This letter consists of comments by Me chain on his observations of nebulae which had already gone to press as part of Messier S catalogue in the Connaissance des Temps for 1787. M&hain says that the nebula Messier 102 does not exist; it was an error. (A number of astronomers have spent time trying to identify this as the spiral NGC 5866.) He also lists four other nebulae which he has discovered, and these should logically be given Messier numbers as follows: NGC4594 as M104; NGC3379 as M105; NGC4258 as M106; and NGC6171 as M107. Flammarion, from pencilled notes in Messier S records, has already suggested the inclusion of NGC 4594 as M104, though this letter published by Me chain was apparently unknown to him. DavidDunlap Observatory, Richmond Hill, Ont.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 1948
- DOI:
- 10.1086/106116
- Bibcode:
- 1948AJ.....53Q.117S