Designat Bi NGC/IC M Long (1661.0) Lat RA (2000.0) Dec RemLater, in 1716, he published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, listing six "nebulae", or nebulous objects, which could not be resolved into stars with the telescopes of Halley's time:
Hal 180 23 5139 214:57 -35:07:05 13:26:34 -47:22:23 Omega Cen Hal 20 27 6231 252:11 -19:01 16:53.3 -41:45 Near Zeta Sco Hal 29 33 6475 M7 264:00 -13:25:05 17:53.8 -36:53:42
N Designat. Ident Long (1716) Lat RA (2000) Dec 1 N. in Ori M42 79:00 -28:45 2 N. in And M31 24:00 +33:20 3 N. in Sgr M22 274:30 -00:30 4 N. in Cen N5139 215:45 -35:12 5 N.[in Sct] M11 279:00 +17:10 6 N. in Her M13 236:30 +57:00See Halley's original paper online.
Besides his deepsky discoveries and observations (which have played a minor role in Halley's astronomical carreer only), Halley undertook a journey to St. Helena and compiled a catalog of southern stars, observed several comets and calculated the orbits of them, and detected the proper motion of some "fixed" stars. The second Astronomer Royal after Flamsteed, he got most famous posthumously because of his correct prediction of the return of "his" comet, now named "Comet Halley", in 1758-59.
Last Modification: 31 Jan 2001, 22:30 MET