Find an NGC object by number
Every NGC number has a page with a chart of the sky around it, a finder chart, when it is best seen and its catalog data. Objects that are also Messier, Caldwell or Herschel 400 objects open that object's page.
The 50 brightest NGC objects
Brightest first, leaving out the stars that are in the catalog. They include Small Magellanic Cloud (NGC 292), Lost Jewel of Orion (NGC 1980), Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532), Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), Beehive Cluster (NGC 2632) and Ptolemy Cluster (NGC 6475). Sort any column, or type a name; the buttons above the map also filter the table.
| NGC | Name | Type | Constellation | Mag | Size | Distance ly | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NGC 292 | Small Magellanic Cloud | barred spiral galaxy | Tucana | 2.3 | 5° × 3° | 204,000 | Nov |
| NGC 1980 | Lost Jewel of Orion | cluster with nebula | Orion | 2.5 | 9.3′ | 1,230 | Jan |
| NGC 6231 | open cluster | Scorpius | 2.6 | 14′ | 5,070 | Jul | |
| NGC 3532 | Wishing Well Cluster | open cluster | Carina | 3.0 | 12′ | 1,540 | Apr |
| NGC 3372 | Carina Nebula | H II region | Carina | 3.0 | 2° | 7,760 | Apr |
| NGC 2632 | M44, Beehive Cluster | open cluster | Cancer | 3.1 | 1.8° | 598 | Mar |
| NGC 6475 | M7, Ptolemy Cluster | open cluster | Scorpius | 3.3 | 22′ | 900 | Aug |
| NGC 224 | M31, Andromeda Galaxy | spiral galaxy | Andromeda | 3.4 | 3° × 1.2° | 2.5 million | Nov |
| NGC 869 | Double Cluster | open cluster | Perseus | 3.7 | 14′ | 7,440 | Dec |
| NGC 2516 | open cluster | Carina | 3.8 | 24′ | 1,330 | Mar | |
| NGC 884 | Double Cluster | open cluster | Perseus | 3.8 | 11′ | 7,480 | Dec |
| NGC 2264 | Christmas Tree Cluster | cluster with nebula | Monoceros | 3.9 | 11′ | 2,280 | Feb |
| NGC 2232 | open cluster | Monoceros | 3.9 | 9.9′ | 1,040 | Feb | |
| NGC 7000 | North America Nebula | H II region | Cygnus | 4.0 | 2° × 30′ | 2,590 | Sep |
| NGC 1976 | M42, Orion Nebula | cluster with nebula | Orion | 4.0 | 1.5° × 1° | 1,300 | Jan |
| NGC 104 | 47 Tucanae | globular cluster | Tucana | 4.1 | 32′ | 14,700 | Nov |
| NGC 2362 | Tau Canis Majoris Cluster | open cluster | Canis Major | 4.1 | 7.2′ | 4,010 | Feb |
| NGC 1981 | Upper Sword | cluster with nebula | Orion | 4.2 | 9′ | Jan | |
| NGC 3114 | open cluster | Carina | 4.2 | 12′ | 3,220 | Apr | |
| NGC 6405 | M6, Butterfly Cluster | open cluster | Scorpius | 4.2 | 16′ | 1,470 | Aug |
| NGC 2422 | M47 | open cluster | Puppis | 4.4 | 20′ | 1,530 | Mar |
| NGC 2287 | M41 | open cluster | Canis Major | 4.5 | 12′ | 2,330 | Feb |
| NGC 6633 | open cluster | Ophiuchus | 4.6 | 12′ | 1,270 | Aug | |
| NGC 6530 | cluster with nebula | Sagittarius | 4.6 | 6′ | Aug | ||
| NGC 7092 | M39 | open cluster | Cygnus | 4.6 | 20′ | 965 | Sep |
| NGC 2547 | open cluster | Vela | 4.7 | 7.8′ | 1,250 | Mar | |
| NGC 3293 | open cluster | Carina | 4.7 | 5.1′ | 7,600 | Apr | |
| NGC 2239 | Butterfly Nebula | cluster with nebula | Monoceros | 4.8 | 9.3′ | Feb | |
| NGC 6254 | M10 | globular cluster | Ophiuchus | 5.0 | 9.3′ | 16,500 | Jul |
| NGC 1499 | California Nebula | nebula | Perseus | 5.0 | 2.7° × 40′ | 1,240 | Jan |
| NGC 6025 | open cluster | Triangulum Australe | 5.1 | 11′ | 2,480 | Jul | |
| NGC 2168 | M35 | open cluster | Gemini | 5.1 | 24′ | 2,730 | Feb |
| NGC 6397 | globular cluster | Ara | 5.2 | 15′ | 8,090 | Aug | |
| NGC 6871 | open cluster | Cygnus | 5.2 | 9.3′ | Sep | ||
| NGC 1039 | M34 | open cluster | Perseus | 5.2 | 23′ | 1,600 | Dec |
| NGC 3766 | Pearl Cluster | open cluster | Centaurus | 5.3 | 6.9′ | 6,320 | May |
| NGC 5138 | open cluster | Centaurus | 5.3 | 4.2′ | May | ||
| NGC 5139 | Omega Centauri | globular cluster | Centaurus | 5.3 | 27′ | 17,700 | May |
| NGC 6087 | S Nor Cluster | open cluster | Norma | 5.4 | 10′ | 3,060 | Jul |
| NGC 6281 | open cluster | Scorpius | 5.4 | 10′ | 1,700 | Jul | |
| NGC 2281 | open cluster | Auriga | 5.4 | 11′ | 1,700 | Feb | |
| NGC 6121 | M4 | globular cluster | Scorpius | 5.4 | 28′ | 6,030 | Jul |
| NGC 6494 | M23 | open cluster | Sagittarius | 5.5 | 17′ | 2,330 | Aug |
| NGC 5662 | open cluster | Centaurus | 5.5 | 8.1′ | 2,450 | Jun | |
| NGC 6374 | open cluster | Scorpius | 5.5 | 6.9′ | Aug | ||
| NGC 6273 | M19 | globular cluster | Ophiuchus | 5.6 | 7.5′ | 27,200 | Jul |
| NGC 2099 | M37 | open cluster | Auriga | 5.6 | 11′ | 4,570 | Feb |
| NGC 2808 | globular cluster | Carina | 5.6 | 9′ | 32,800 | Mar | |
| NGC 5460 | open cluster | Centaurus | 5.6 | 13′ | 2,320 | Jun | |
| NGC 7686 | open cluster | Andromeda | 5.6 | 3.6′ | Oct |
81% of the NGC objects are galaxies
| Type | Objects |
|---|---|
| Galaxies | 6,569 |
| Open clusters | 667 |
| Globular clusters | 196 |
| Nebulae | 195 |
| Planetary nebulae | 95 |
| Stars and other | 377 |
Most of the galaxies are faint, 12th to 15th magnitude, and need a 10-inch or larger telescope. The stars and other entries (377) are stars and star groups that 19th-century observers took for nebulae, and entries no later survey could match to an object. 274 numbers are duplicates of other entries and are left out.
All NGC objects by number
Each page lists 500 numbers on a sky map and in a sortable table.
- NGC 1 to 500 521 objects, 430 galaxies
- NGC 501 to 1000 514 objects, 466 galaxies
- NGC 1001 to 1500 510 objects, 456 galaxies
- NGC 1501 to 2000 498 objects, 233 galaxies
- NGC 2001 to 2500 508 objects, 199 galaxies
- NGC 2501 to 3000 525 objects, 445 galaxies
- NGC 3001 to 3500 534 objects, 487 galaxies
- NGC 3501 to 4000 506 objects, 475 galaxies
- NGC 4001 to 4500 499 objects, 467 galaxies
- NGC 4501 to 5000 533 objects, 512 galaxies
- NGC 5001 to 5500 521 objects, 469 galaxies
- NGC 5501 to 6000 504 objects, 465 galaxies
- NGC 6001 to 6500 526 objects, 397 galaxies
- NGC 6501 to 7000 518 objects, 317 galaxies
- NGC 7001 to 7500 524 objects, 435 galaxies
- NGC 7501 to 8000 358 objects, 316 galaxies
Dreyer's New General Catalogue of 1888 built on the Herschels' surveys
William Herschel and his sister Caroline swept the sky from England between 1783 and 1802 and listed 2,500 nebulae and clusters. His son John added the southern sky from the Cape of Good Hope and in 1864 published the General Catalogue of 5,079 objects. John Louis Emil Dreyer, a Danish astronomer at Armagh Observatory in Ireland, revised and extended it with the discoveries of Lord Rosse, Lewis Swift, Édouard Stephan and others, and in 1888 published the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars: 7,840 objects, numbered in order of right ascension.
The catalog was compiled before anyone knew what most of its objects were. In the 1920s Edwin Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae are galaxies far beyond the Milky Way, and they make up most of the NGC. Positions, types and magnitudes on these pages come from the OpenNGC database compiled by Mattia Verga.