JOHANN LOUIS EMIL DREYER was born in 1852, and at the age of 30 is appointed director of Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. Dreyer updated John Herschel's 'General Catalogue', which contains 5000 entries and was published in 1864. The resulting 'New General Catalogue', published in 1888, lists almost 8000 objects.

Much has been written about the celebrated NGC and several on-line resources are available. A good general introduction can be found on the excellent NGC/IC project pages ("An Historical Perspective" by Harold G. Corwin, Jr.)

NGC TRIVIA Which constellation has the most NGC objects? And the least?

Quicklinks:
Original NGC/IC Catalogue
Decoding NGC descriptions

Constellation

Vir
UMa
Cet
Leo
Eri

Peg
Psc
Dra
Com
Dor

Boo
Hya
CVn, Her
And
Aqr

Cen
Cnc
Lyn
Per
Crt

Sgr
Tri
Ari
Ser
Men

For
Cyg, Gem
Ori
Sex
LMi

Scl, Tuc
Mon
Lib
Pup
Sco

#

678
411
404
392
325

319
305
299
298
297

262
228
214
154
142

138
114
98
95
87

85
82
81
75
74

69
67
66
64
62

61
59
57
56
50

Constellation

Ant, Gru, Pav
Tau
Cam
Ind
Oph

Aql, Cas
Car, Phe
CMa
PsA, UMi
Cep, CrB

Vel
Crv
Lyr
Lep
Tel

Cap
Hor, Lac
Aur
Del
Pic, Vul

Lup
CMi, Col
Ara
Cae
Nor

Pyx
Sct
Hyi, Mic, Ret
Vol
Aps, Cru

CrA, Mus, Sge, TrA
Cir, Oct
Cha, Equ

#

49
47
45
44
43

41
40
39
38
37

36
35
34
33
28

27
26
24
22
20

18
17
16
15
14

13
12
11
9
8

6
5
4