Planetary Firsts


Have you seen PN G164.8+31.1?

The Strasbourg - ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (SEC), the standard reference source published in 1992, lists 1,143 true and probable planetaries, of which less than one hundred were included in the New General Catalog (NGC) of 1888. As late as 1934, when Boris Alexandrovich Vorontsov-Velyaminov published his catalog, only 134 were known. More than 1,000 planetary nebulae were discovered and catalogued within a period of little more than half a century!

Among amateur astronomers the best known planetary catalog is doubtless the Abell Catalog of Planetary Nebulae, compiled by George Abell at Mount Palomar in the 1950's by visual inspection of photographic plates from the recently-completed Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Earlier, in the 1940's, Rudolph Minkowski at Mount Wilson had discovered several hundred new planetaries by examining objective prism survey plates for objects with H-alpha emission lines but with little or no continuous spectra. Other astronomers who have made significant contributions to the growing list of known planetary nebulae include Guillermo Haro of Herbig - Haro fame; Karl Henize, who compiled the standard list of southern planetaries; and Lubos Kohoutek, co-author of the Perek - Kohoutek Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (P-K), published in Prague in 1967.

There are many other well-known names among the discoverers of planetary nebulae, including Walter Baade and Harlow Shapley. One of my favorite astronomers, Milton Humason of Mount Palomar, the mule-driver and janitor turned telescope operator for the notoriously inept Edmund Hubble, has three entries to his credit. His boss even has one himself, although it was more or less a mistake, having already been included in one of the Index Catalogues (IC):

MAG1 = Integrated VMag of PN / MAG2 = Mag of Central Star / SIZE = Diameter in arcseconds
NAME
PN G#
CON
MAG1
MAG2
SIZE
RA
DEC
URA2
Baade 1 171.3-25.8 TAU 15.1 17.2 38 03 53 36.4 +19 29 39 078
Shapley 1 329.0+1.9 NOR 12.6 14.0 72 15 51 41.2 -51 31 23 182
Hu 1-1 119.6-6.7 CAS 12.3 19.1 16 00 28 15.7 +55 57 54 018
Hu 1-2 86.5-8.8 CYG 12.0 17.3 30 21 33 08.2 +39 38 12 047
Hu 2-1 51.4+9.6 HER 11.4 13.3 13 18 49 47.6 +20 50 36 067
Hubble 1 IC 289 CAS 13.2 15.9 48 03 10 19.7 +61 19 01 028

What's in a name?
A rose by any other name
Would smell as sweet!

The Strasbourg - ESO Catalog continues and refines the approved practice begun with the P-K Catalog of identifying a planetary nebula by its galactic coordinates (known as PN G# in the SEC). All very proper and scientific, no doubt, but without much appeal to the imagination. It is a bit like renaming San Francisco 37.48N122.24W. Who would want to visit there? Writers from Genesis to Proust have recognized the suggestive power of names. This power is only heightened by adding Number One. Hence my selection of planetary firsts: the first (and sometimes only) entry in somebody's catalog of planetary nebulae discovered in the twentieth century:

MAG1 = Integrated VMag of PN / MAG2 = Mag of Central Star / SIZE = Diameter in arcseconds
NAME
MEANING
PN G#
CON
MAG1
MAG2
SIZE
RA
DEC
URA2
Abell 1 na 119.4+6.5 CEP 18.3 20.5 47 00 12 54.6 +69 10 23 008
Al 1 Allen 6.8-8.6 SGR 15.2 18.0 13 18 34 55.4 -27 06 32 145
Baade 1 na 171.3-25.8 TAU 15.1 17.2 38 03 53 36.4 +19 29 39 078
BoBn 1 Boeshaar Bond 108.4-76.1 CET 16.3 na 3 00 37 16.0 -13 42 59 121
Cn 1-1 Cannon 330.7+4.1 NOR 12.9 11.1 1 15 51 16.2 -48 45 00 182
DeHt 1 Dengle Hartle 228.2-22.1 LEP na na 132 05 55 06.8 -22 54 02 155
DoDz 1 Dolidze Dzhimsheleishvili 61.9+41.3 HER 13.3 15.4 10 16 40 18.2 +38 42 19 050
EGB 1 Ellis Grayson Bond 124.0+10.7 CAS na 16.4 270 01 07 12.9 +73 32 57 002
GJJC 1 Gillett Jacoby Joyce Cohen 9.8-7.5 SGR 15.0 14.3 9 18 36 23.4 -23 55 20 145
H 1-1 Haro 343.4+11.9 SCO 14.5 17.3 2 16 13 28.1 -34 35 40 165
Hb 1 Hubble IC 289 CAS 13.2 15.9 48 03 10 19.7 +61 19 01 028
He 1-1 Henize 55.3+2.7 SGE 16.3 na 11 19 23 46.9 +21 06 36 066
HFG 1 Heckathorn Fesen Gull 136.3+5.5 CAS na 13.3 500 03 03 48.8 +64 53 28 017
Hu 1-1 Humason 119.6-6.7 CAS 12.3 19.1 16 00 28 15.7 +55 57 54 018
IsWe 1 Ishida Weinberger 149.7-3.3 PER na 16.5 780 03 49 05.9 +50 00 14 043
Jacoby 1 na 85.4+46.4 DRA na na 660 15 58 +54 48 022
JaFu 1 Jacoby Fulton 2.1+1.7 OPH na na na 17 43 57.4 -26 11 52 146
JE 1 Jones Emberson 164.8+31.1 LYN 12.1 16.8 380 07 57 51.7 +53 25 16 026
Jones 1 na 104.2-29.6 PEG 12.1 16.1 320 23 35 53.6 +30 28 02 045
K 1-1 Kohoutek 252.6+4.4 PYX 17.9 13.9 63 08 31 52.5 -32 06 10 171
KFL 1 Kinman Feast Lasker 0.5-3.1 SGR 19.0 17.3 8 17 59 15.7 -30 02 48 163
Lo 1 Longmore 255.3-59.6 ERI na 15.4 373 02 56 58.2 -44 10 19 190
LSA 1 Lundstrom Stenholm Acker 29.8-7.8 AQL 15.6 na 14 19 13 55.7 -06 18 53 125
M 1-1 Minkowski 130.3-11.7 AND 14.1 16.2 9 01 37 19.6. +50 28 11 044
Me 1-1 Merrill 52.5-2.9 AQL 11.8 14.1 8 19 39 09.9 +15 56 45 085
MWP 1 Motch Werner Pakull 80.8-10.6 CYG na na 780 21 19 +34 24 047
Na 1 Nassau 18.0+20.1 OPH 13.4 16.6 15 17 12 51.9 -03 16 00 107
PB 1 Peimbert Batiz 226.4-3.7 CMA 14.0 16.2 10 07 02 46.9 -13 42 37 135
Pease 1 na 65.0-27.3 PEG 15.5 14.9 1 21 29 59.4 +12 10 26 083
PRMG 1 Pena Ruiz Maza Gonzalez 6.0-41.9 MIC 16.7 17.5 8 21 05 53.7 -37 08 42 161
Pu 1 Purgathofer 181.5+0.9 TAU 15.8 21.1 65 05 52 48.2 +28 05 57 077
PuWe 1 Purgathofer Weinberger 158.9+17.8 LYN 11.2 15.3 1200 06 19 33.9 +55 36 45 027
SaSt 1-1 Sanduleak Stephenson 249.0+6.9 PYX na 13.0 11 08 31 42.8 -27 45 34 153
SaWe 1 Sanduleak Weinberger 233.0-10.1 CMA 16.3 na 55 06 50 40.7 -22 26 15 154
Sn 1 Shane 13.3+32.7 SER 12.8 14.7 6 16 21 04.5 -00 16 12 107
Sp 1 Shapley 329.0+1.9 NOR 12.6 14.0 72 15 51 41.2 -51 31 23 182
SwSt 1 Swings Struve 1.5-6.7 SGR 13.0 11.7 14 18 16 12.3 -30 52 09 163
Vd 1-1 Vandervort 344.2+4.7 SCO 12.0 16.7 10 16 42 33.3 -38 54 32 164
Vy 1-1 Vyssotsky 118.0-8.6 CAS 12.5 14.1 14 00 18 42.4 +53 52 18 018
We 1-1 Weinberger 121.6+3.5 CAS 21.9 21.0 24 00 38 54.6 +66 23 47 008
WeDe 1 Weinberger Dengle 197.4-6.4 ORI na 17.4 925 05 59 24.5 +10 41 40 096
WeSb 1 Weinberger Sabbadin 124.3-7.7 CAS na na 150 01 00 53.9 +55 03 54 018
WhMe 1 Whitelock Menzies 51.0+2.8 SGE 17.0 13.4 9 19 14 59.4 +17 22 47 067

Resources

Doug Snyder's Planetary Nebulae Observer's Home Page is the best source of information about planetaries on the Web. From there you can download Kent Wallace's SEC Database and observing notes. And here is a lit of observations of planetaries by Eric Honeycutt.

[PN G164.8+31.1 is better known as JE 1 to amateur observers.]