Sharpless catalog

Sharpless 2-106

The Sharpless catalog is a list of 312 HII regions ( emission nebulae ) with the intention of a complete list of these objects north of the declination δ = −27 ° (it also contains some nebulae south of this elevation). The first edition from 1953 (Sh1) still contained 142 objects, the second and final version from 1959 (Sh2) by Stewart Sharpless then contained 312 objects. The catalog also contains some planetary nebulae and supernova remnants.

In the year 1953 Stewart Sharpless employee who was United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station , where he HII regions in the Milky Way based on the survey of the Palomar Sky Survey analyzed and cataloged. From this work he published his catalogs of HII regions in two editions, the first in the same year with 142 nebulae. The second and last edition was published in 1959 and then contained 312 nebulae.

Sharpless coordinates of the first edition Sh1 are based on the star catalogs of the Bonn survey (BD) or the Córdoba survey (CD). The second edition used coordinates from era 1900.

In Sh2, some coordinates of the southern hemisphere have measurement deviations of more than one arc minute. This can make it much more difficult to find the objects you are looking for. That is why a revised catalog called BFS (Blitz, Fich and Stark) was published. This contained 65 new objects, 20 objects were removed. Most of the objects removed were either already mentioned nebulae or remnants.

The 312 entries in the Sharpless catalog sometimes overlap with the 110 in the Messier catalog (M), the 7,840 in the New General Catalog (NGC) and the RCW catalog . The Gum and RCW catalogs were contemporary , although these mainly covered the southern hemisphere.

Examples

Extract of examples from the second Sharpless catalog from 1958; A click on the picture provides a description of the picture, most of which come from different amateur astronomers, the European Southern Observatory , ESA or NASA

Sh 2- #	Surname	image	Occurrences or alternate names
6th	NGC 6302		Sh2-6, NGC 6302, Bug Nebula, PK 349 + 01 1, Butterfly Nebula, RCW 124, Gum 60
8th	NGC 6334		ESO 392-EN 009, Sharpless 8, RCW 127, Gum 64, NGC 6334
11	NGC 6357		Sh2-11, NGC 6357, RCW 131, Gum 66, War and Peace Nebula
25th	Lagoon fog		Sh2 25, RCW 146, Gum 72, Messier 8
30th	Trifid Nebula		Sh2 30, M20, NGC 6514, RCW 147, Gum 76
45	Omega nebula		Omega Nebula, M17, NGC 6618, Swan Nebula, Sharpless 45, RCW 160, Gum 81
49	Eagle Nebula		Sh2 49, Messier 16, NGC 6611, RCW 165, Gum 83
101	Tulip mist		Sharpless 101
105	NGC 6888		Sh2 105, Sharpless 105
106	Nh2-106		Nh2-106, Celestial Snow Angel
117	North American Nebula		NGC 7000
125	Cocoon mist		IC 5146
140	Sh2-140		Sh2-140
155	Cave fog		Sh2-155
162	NGC 7635		Sh2-162, NGC 7635, Bubble nebula
184	NGC 281		NGC 281, IC 11
191	Maffei 1		Sh2-191, Maffei 1, PGC 9892
197	Maffei 2		Sh2-197, Maffei 2, UGCA 39, PGC 10217
199	Soul mist		Sh2-199, LBN 667, Soul Nebula, IC 1848 (cluster only)
220	California fog		NGC 1499, Sharpless 220
229	IC 405		Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405, Sh2-229
238	NGC 1555		NGC 1555, Hind's Nebula, Sharpless 238
244	Crab Nebula		Messier 1, NGC 1952,
248	IC 443		IC 443, Sh2-248, Jellyfish Nebula
271	Flame mist		Sh2-271, NGC 2024
275	Rosette nebula		Sh2-275, CTB 21
276	Barnard's loop		Sh2-276, Barnard's loop
281	Orion Nebula		M42, NGC 1976, LBN 974
298	NGC 2359		Thor's Helmet, Gum 4, Sharpless 298, NGC 2359

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Galaxy Map - The Gum, RCW, Sharpless and BFS catalogs
2. ^ ^{A b} Dick Steven: Sky and Ocean Joined: The US Naval Observatory , 1830-2000 . Cambridge University Press , 2002, ISBN 978-0-521-81599-4 .
3. ↑ Stewart Sharpless: A Catalog of Emission Nebulae Near the Galactic Plane , Astrophysical Journal vol. 118, 1953, p. 362, bibcode : 1953ApJ ... 118..362S .
4. ↑ Stewart Sharpless: A Catalog of H II Regions , Astrophysical Journal Supplement, vol. 4, 1959, p. 257, bibcode : 1959ApJS .... 4..257S
5. ↑ ^{a b} NASA / IPAC Extragalactic Database . In: Results for Maffei 2 . Retrieved November 25, 2006.

Web links

• Original catalog
• Illustrated and annotated commentary
• SIMBAD : Sh2 listing, bibcode : 1959ApJS .... 4..257S
• Sh2 images