Bode's "Complete Catalogue of Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters" -

Bode’s “Complete Catalogue of hitherto observed Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters”

Johan Elert Bode (1747-1826), astronomer in Berlin and discoverer of

M81, M82,

M53, M92, and

M64,

compiled a deepsky catalog of of 75 entries published 1777 in the

Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1779, entitled

“A Complete Catalogue of hitherto observed Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters”.

This catalog was extended by 2 objects (M92 and M64) in its second edition,

published in 1980.

Unfortunately, Bode’s catalog contains many non-existent objects and

uninteresting asterisms, mostly copied from elsewhere. A preliminary list

identifying those objects the present author could find is presented here.

At last, there is probably only one real object

(NGC 2477 = Lacaille I.3) which is not

also listed in Messier’s catalog.

Please email me if you have or can point me

to any help for identifying the remaining entries, or point me to any errors.


Bode  id     Date



  1

  2 = M32

  3 = M31

  4

  5 = M33    Aug 18, 1775

  6

  7 = M34    Sep 2, 1774

  8 = M45         

  9 = M38    Nov 2, 1774

 10 = M42

 11 = M1     Nov 8, 1774

 12 = M36    

 13 = M37    

 14 = M35    

 15 = M41

 16 = M50    Dec 2, 1774

 17 = M81 !  Dec 31, 1774

 18 = M82 !  Dec 31, 1774

 19          

 20 = M44

 21 = NGC 2477, Lac I.3 ?

 22          

 23 = M40 ?  

 24          

 25 = M51    Jan 15, 1774

 26 = M53 !  Feb 3, 1775

 27 = M83         

 28          

 29 = M5         

 30 = M13    Sep 9, 1774

 31 = M4     

 32 = M12    Aug 14, 1774

 33 = M10    Aug 14, 1774

 34       -                Asterism of 60 Her, 32, 33, 34 Oph

 35 = M19

 36 = M9         

 37 = M14

 38       -                (88 Her)

 39 = M6         

 40       -                (90 Her)

 41          

 42          

 43       -                (4 Sgr, near M8)

 44 < M8                   (pt of M8 ?)

 45 = M8  ?

 46 = M7  ??               (pos error)         

 47 = M20

 48       -                (7 Sgr)   

 49       -                (9 Sgr)

 50 = M21

 51 = M24    

 52 = M16         

 53 = M18         

 54 = M17         

 55

 56 = M25   

 57 = M22        

 58 = M28 ?                (pos error)

 59 = M26        

 60       -                (Nu 1 Sgr)

 61       -                (Nu 2 Sgr)

 62 = M11

 63 = M55

 64    

 65         

 66         

 67 = M27           

 68 = M30           

 69 = M29      

 70 = M2     Oct 22, 1775  

 71 = M15    Sep 23, 1774

 72            

 73            

 74            

 75 = M39    Oct 27, 1774

[76]= M92 !  Dec 27, 1777

[77]= M64 !  Apr 4, 1779

Exclamation marks mark Bode's original discoveries, question marks doubty

identifications and minus signs nonexisting objects (e.g., asterisms, stars

taken for nebulae, and errors).

The present author is skeptical if Bode actually observed the double star

M40 which is Winnecke 4, and is Messier's

observation near a position given by Hevelius, who probably observed another

star. It may be that Bode simply quoted Hevelius, or observed a third

position in this area of the sky.