General Catalog of Nebulae and Clusters
The General Catalog (GC) or General Catalog of Nebulae and Clusters is an astronomical catalog published by John Herschel in 1864 .
The catalog contains the positions and descriptions of 5079 astronomical objects, such as open star clusters , globular clusters , planetary nebulae , gas nebulae and galaxies . About half of the data was obtained from John Herschel's observations. He took over the remaining data from his father Wilhelm Herschel . Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer expanded the GC in 1878 from various sources up to number 6251 ( A supplement to Sir John Herschel's "General catalog of nebulae and clusters of stars." ).
The catalog was combined with other observations by Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer around 1888 to create the New General Catalog . A supplementary edition of the catalog was later published as the General Catalog of 10,300 Multiple and Double Stars .