NGC/IC Catalogues

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The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC) is a well-known catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy. It contains 7,840 objects, known as the NGC objects. The NGC is one of the largest comprehensive catalogues, as it includes all types of deep space objects and is not confined to, for example, galaxies. It was first published in 1888.

The Index Catalogue (IC) is a catalogue of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters that serves as a supplement to the New General Catalogue. It was first published in 1895, and has been expanded to list 5,387 objects, known as the IC objects.

 


Galaxies

A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas, dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter.

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Nebulae

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases.

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Open Clusters

An open cluster is a group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age.

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Globular Clusters

A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite.

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