Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6850 (= GC 4530 = JH 3806, 1860 RA 19 52 28, NPD 145 13.8) is "very faint, small, round, brighter middle." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 03 31.2, Dec -54 50 46, less than 0.2 arcmin east-southeast of the center of the galaxy listed above and well within its outline, the description is reasonable and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.1 by 1.1? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6851 (= GC 4531 = JH 3807, 1860 RA 19 53 19, NPD 138 39.2) is "pretty faint, small, very little extended, pretty suddenly brighter middle." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 03 32.9, Dec -48 16 05, about 1 arcmin north-northwest of the center of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.0 by 1.5? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: As the double listing for this object shows, there is nothing standard about "non-standard" letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Since also listed as NGC 6861A, see that entry for anything else.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.1 by 0.2? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NG 6852 (= GC 5949, Marth #404, 1860 RA 19 53 28, NPD 88 39) is "a faint nebula, among stars." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 00 33.9, Dec +01 43 51, about 1.3 arcmin west-northwest of the nebula listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Gottlieb notes that despite its presence in the NGC, this planetary was independently "rediscovered" in 1963 by Lubos Kohoutek (and listed as K 1-18) while examining one of the plates later digitized for the DSS (Digital Sky Survey).
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, LEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.47? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6853 (= GC 4532 = JH 2060, M 27, 1860 RA 19 53 33, NPD 67 39.6) is "a magnificent or otherwise interesting object, very bright, very large, binuclear, irregularly extended (Dumbbell)." The position precesses to (2000) RA 19 59 35.5, Dec +22 43 11, nearly dead center on the nebula listed above, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Notes: Gottlieb notes that although Caroline Herschel independently discovered the nebula, she and her brother William immediately realized that it was M27 when they compared its position to their map showing the position of Messier's objects, so her and William's observations were not included in his list of 1000 new nebulae and clusters (though a detailed discussion of his own observation was presented in his 1785 Philosophical Transactions paper). While Messier described it as oval, the Herschels noticed that it was divided into the two patches that gave it its nickname, and although William described its outer regions as resembling the Orion Nebula, he presumed that such nebulae were simply composed of stars too faint to be seen as individual objects, the use of the spectroscope to show that some nebulae were clouds of glowing gas being decades in the future (by William Huggins, in 1864). John Herschel is responsible for its description as "something like an hour glass," and as "like a double-headed shot or a dumb-bell." The former description led to NGC 6853 sometimes being referred to as the Hour-Glass Nebula. Lord Rosse's sketch was published in 1844, while George Stoney's sketch was published in 1850, Bindon Stoney's sketch (including a large number of stars whose position relative to the nebula were micrometrically measured) was published in 1861, and George Stoney's observation with "Doctor Robinson" noted that the nebula extended further to the southwest than in Bindon's sketch (and included mention of the fact that he and his brother had already agreed that the 1861 sketch should have shown the further extension). [All of the Stoneys' observations were made with Lord Rosse's 72-inch "Leviathan".) Finally, in his first use of a spectroscope to examine planetary nebulae, William Huggins noted that the nebula's spectrum consisted of only a single bright line, proving that it was glowing gas (later spectroscopic observations showed that many "nebulae" had a stellar spectrum, and therefore were made of stars too faint to see individually, as assumed by Herschel and his contemporaries; those "nebulae" are now called galaxies).
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size 6.7? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6854 (= GC 4533 = JH 3808, 1860 RA 19 54 41, NPD 144 45.7) is "faint, small, very little extended, gradually a little brighter middle." The position precesses to RA 20 05 38.9, Dec -54 22 17, about 1/4 arcmin nearly due north of the center of the brighter member of the pair listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain. (Note: Although several databases list the northwestern component as a separate object, the description of Herschel's object as a little extended means that NGC 6854 consists of both components.)
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.0 by 1.3? arcmin; GAIA agrees with the identification as a pair
NED 20.2 - 76.7 Mpc, SAB(s)0- pec, 2.0 x 1.3 arcmin, 13.2b, 3K Vr 5607 km/sec, only one position given
Steinicke lists as only a single galaxy (PGC 64080); Corwin as a pair

NED: called a star in RC1 & ESO-B; "pair member"; mag (no filter specified) 13.39; 3K Vr 5210 km/sec
LEDA: B 13.40, I 11.18, -> V 12.5(?) *probably for 6854 itself*

Physical Information: NED 16.1b, 3K Vr 5818 km/sec, so quite possibly an actual companion
SIMBAD V 12.3

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6855 (= GC 4534 = JH 3809, 1860 RA 19 55 32, NPD 146 47.0) is "pretty faint, small, round." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 06 47.2, Dec -56 23 24, less than 0.4 arcmin due west of the center of the galaxy listed above and well within its outline, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.5 by 1.3? arcmin
NED (R')SB0^+(rs)?, R)SB(rl)0^+, 3K Vr 4228 km/sec

Physical Information: LEDA B 15.3; NED 3K 15470 km/sec, z 0.05160242856. Since it is at least three times further from us than NGC 6855, it is only a distant background object (an optical double).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6856 (= GC 4535 = JH 2063, 1860 RA 19 56 09, NPD 34 15.2) is "a cluster, pretty small, pretty much compressed, irregularly round, stars from 12th to 16th magnitude." The position precesses to (2000) RA 19 59 18.3, Dec +56 07 47, a smidgen northeast of the position listed for the cluster, but well within its central region, the description fits and although not a notable cluster (as stated in the NGC), per Gottlieb the group stands out from the surrounding star field, making the identification certain.
Physical Information: Apparent size 3.0? arcmin. Possibly a physically connected group, or the remains of an ancient open cluster.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6857 (= GC 4536 = JH 2062 = WH III 144, 1860 RA 19 56 24, NPD 56 51.6) is "faint, among Milky Way stars." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 01 47.5, Dec +33 31 38, barely west of the center of the emission nebula listed above, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Notes: Per Gottlieb, John Herschel made 3 observations of the nebula, noting that it was an ill defined patch containing some nebulosity; and one attempt to observe it with the 72-inch "Leviathan" at Birr Castle failed to find it.
PGC Designation Note: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object even though it isn't a galaxy; but as also usual in such cases, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being in quotes.
Physical Information: NGC 6857 is the brightest part of the westermost portion of a very large region of emission nebulae extending more than a minute of time to the west and roughly 8 arcmin from north to south. Most of the nebulosity is very faint, but there is a small fairly bright patch to the northeast of NGC 6857, and a larger brighter one near the western end of the regionl; however, neither of those are in the NGC/IC, presumably being too faint to be noticed at that time. NGC 6857 itself is.
 The nebula is lit by the light of numerous young stars, presuming a star cluster in the early stages of its formation, but as of this date (Oct 31, 2023) I have been unable to find anything to indicate the distance of the cluster (which would be the same as that of the nebula), so although the brightest part of the nebula spans a region about 0.6 arcmin in size (once images are posted, a size based on those will replac that value), its actual physical size is unknown.
Note About Classification: Early studies suggested that this was a planetary nebula, and some references still list it as such; and there are actual planetary nebulae near it (at least as far as our field of view is concerned; but they may be well in front of or behind the NGC object, and not connected with it or the star cluster lighting it up); but there is no doubt that the NGC object itself is not a planetary nebula, and simply an HII emission region.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6858 (= GC 4537 = JH 2061, 1860 RA 19 56 24, NPD 79 07.4) is "a cluster, considerably large, extended, pretty rich, stars from 13th magnitude." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 03 02.6, Dec +11 15 56, about 2.5 arcmin southwest of the modern position for the cluster listed above, but the description is a reasonable fit and there is nothing nearby that suggests the identification is incorrect, so it is almost certainly correct.
Discovery Notes: Per Gottlieb, Herschel described this as "A pretty rich oblong cluster, 10' long, 5' broad, stars equal and of 13th magnitude." Gottlieb's description of his own visual observation states that it is an elongated group of 35 stars in a 10 x 4 arcmin group oriented north-south, with most stars of magnitude of 12th to 13th magnitude. Since what he saw matches Herschel's description in both appearance and position, he considers the identification "definite".
PGC Designation Note: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object even though it isn't a galaxy; but as also usual in such cases, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size roughly 10 by 4 or 5 arcmin, but with no known distance, the actual physical size of the cluster is unknown.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6859 (= GC 4538, G. P. Bond (24, HN 6), 1860 RA 19 56 40, NPD 89 56.7) is "a very small cluster, 10th magnitude star 1 second of time to west, 1' 29" to south (Auwers 46)", Auwers 46 meaning that John Herschel obtained the information about the discovery from Auwers' catalog, which states that Bond discovered the group, and includes a note by Auwers stating that it is a faint nebulous star of magnitude 11 or 12, plus a double star with components of magnitude 10 and 11 or 12. The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 03 49.6, Dec +00 26 44, nearly dead center on the triplet of stars listed above, the description fits (except that the stars are fainter than stated and there is no nebulosity, which is a common case of seeing more than is there even in modern observations) and no other group of stars in the vicinity fits the description, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Gottlieb, Bond's desription stated that there was a faint nebula to the north-northeast of the 10th magnitude star referred to by Auwers. His position for the "nebula" relative to the brighter star falls exactly on the triplet now listed as NGC 6859, so he simply mistook the faint group for a nebulous object. Auwers also observed the group (whence his correction of Bond's description), but although he specifies the telescope he used, he does not give the date of his observation, so it is obtained from the publication date for his immense catalog of all nebulae and clusters discovered prior to its publication. Auwers' note does state that the position of the triplet relative to the brighter star was taken from Bond's paper.
PGC Designation Note: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object even though it isn't a galaxy; but as also usual in such cases, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being in quotes.
Position Note: Most positions for this group fall on the southeastern member of the triplet, but HyperLEDA's position falls in the center of the group, and since that seems a more reasonable way of specifying the position, that is the position I have used above.
Physical InformationThe 'faint' star to the west is magnitude 14.6, while the double star has magnitude 12.8 (southern star) and 13.6 (northern star). The "10th magnitude" star used to specify the position of the group is magnitude 9.6.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6860 (= GC 4539 = JH 3810, 1860 RA 19 56 41, NPD 151 29.5) is "faint, pretty small, gradually brighter middle." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 08 45.1, Dec -61 05 38, on the northeastern edge of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.3 by 0.8? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6861 (= GC 4540 = JH 3811, Dunlop #425, 1860 RA 19 57 05, NPD 138 46.1) is "bright, small, considerably extended, gradually pretty much brighter middle." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 07 17.9, Dec -48 22 20, well within the western boundary of the galaxy lsited above, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Gottlieb, Herschel suggested that Dunlop might have made a 1 degree error in the position (hence Dreyer's giving Dunlop credit for the discovery), and in his doctoral thesis, Glen Cozens confirmed that there was a mis-transcription from Dunlop's logbook, leading to the error in Dunlop's published paper. Swift's position was only off by 3 arcmin, but he (and Dreyer) must have failed to notice the NGC listing, so the galaxy also ended up with an IC entry.
Physical Information: Apparent size 3.0 by 2.0? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: As the double listing for this object shows, there is nothing standard about "non-standard" letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.3 by 0.6? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.2 by 0.3? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.2 by 0.5? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.1 by 0.7? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.4 by 0.3? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 0.3? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6862 (= GC 4541 = JH 3812, 1860 RA 19 57 40, NPD 146 47.3) is "faint, small, a little extended, gradually a little brighter middle." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 08 53.9, Dec -56 23 20, barely northeast of the center of the galaxy listed above and well within its northern boundary, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Gottlieb, Stewart photographed the region at Harvard's Arequipa Station (in Peru) between 1898 and 1901 and noted that NGC 6862 was "a small, 2-branch spiral."
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 1.3? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6863 (= GC 4542 = JH 2065, 1860 RA 19 57 47, NPD 93 57.0) is "a cluster, small, very much compressed, stars of 19th magnitude." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 05 07.9, Dec -03 33 21, barely southwest of the center of the group of stars listed above, and well within its boundary, the description fits (though the stars are considerably brighter) and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Gottlieb, Herschel wrote "A little compact know of 7 or 8 stars taken at first for a nebula (and liable to be taken as one hereafter). Stars 19m." In his 1926 photographic survey Die Herschel-Nebel Karl Reinmuth described "4-5 very small stars almost in a line 85 degrees [nearly east-west], 14th magnitude star near to north"; as a result of this description, some sources list this as a chain of stars, instead of as a group or cluster. Corwin identifies this as a group of 8 stars, at the position shown in the description line. Finally, Moni et al (2010) concluded that this is not a cluster but a random enhancement of field stars.
PGC Designation Note: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object even though it isn't a galaxy; but as also usual in such cases, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being in quotes.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6864 (= GC 4543 = JH 2064, Méchain, M 75, 1860 RA 19 57 49, NPD 112 19.0) is "a globular cluster, bright, pretty large, round, very much brighter middle and bright nucleus, partially resolved (some stars seen)." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 06 04.8, Dec -21 55 16, almost dead center on the cluster listed above, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Steinicke, this was one of the first objects observed by William Herschel through his 24 inch telescope, and that he wrote "composed of stars; and is a miniature of the 3rd [M3] near 9 Boo."
Physical Information: Over 100 light-years across, and 60 to 100 thousand light-years away (apparent size 6.8? arcmin).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6865 (= GC 5950, Marth #405, 1860 RA 19 58 20, NPD 99 26) is "faint, small, extended".
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.8 by 0.6? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6866 (= GC 4544 = JH 2066 = WH VII 59, (Caroline Herschel), 1860 RA 19 59 11, NPD 46 23.8) is "a cluster, large, very rich, considerably compressed".
Discovery Notes: Although Caroline Herschel discovered this cluster in 1783, William Herschel's published paper only lists his own (later) observation of the cluster; hence her absence in Dreyer's entry for this object, and her inclusion here in parentheses.
Physical Information: Apparent size 7.0? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6867 (= GC 4545 = JH 3813, 1860 RA 19 59 32, NPD 145 11.1) is "most extremely faint, large, pretty much extended".
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.0 by 0.7? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6868 (= GC 4546 = JH 3814, 1860 RA 19 59 41, NPD 138 46.4) is "very bright, small, round, pretty gradually very much brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 3.6 by 2.8? arcmin
3K Vr 2716 km/sec

Note About PGC Designation: Although HyperLEDA assigns the PGC designation shown above to this object, a search of the database for that designation returns no result; the 2MASX designation must be used for such a search to succeed, hence the quotes placed around the PGC designation (the same thing is true for a search of the NED).
Physical Information: 3K Vr 2714 km/sec; almost certainly a physical pair

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6869 (Swift list II (#83) and IV (#??), 1860 RA 19 59 48, NPD 24 09.1) is "pretty bright, pretty small, round".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 1.3? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6870 (= GC 4547 = JH 3815, 1860 RA 19 59 58, NPD 138 41.3) is "considerably faint, considerably small, extended 90 , gradually brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.6 by 1.3? arcmin

Physical Information: NED 3K Vr 17208 km/sec, z 0.05739968. A far more distant galaxy, so only an "optical double"

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6871 (= GC 4548 = JH 2067, Struve 2630, 1860 RA 20 00 38, NPD 54 37.2) is "a cluster, stars large and small, double star involved".
Discovery Notes: For more than a century it was thought that Struve was the first to observe this object; but per Steinicke, Herschel had already observed the cluster (but not recorded it as such) during his early studies of double stars, whence the date of observation shown above.
Physical Information: Apparent size 30? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6872 (= GC 4549 = JH 3816, 1860 RA 20 02 03, NPD 161 11.9) is "faint, pretty small, a little extended, gradually a little brighter middle, 9th magnitude star 10.5 seconds of time to west, 1st of 4", the others being NGC 6876, 6877 and 6880.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 4555 km/sec, NGC 6872 is about 210 million light-years away. Given that and its apparent size of 7.0 by 1.0 arcmin, it is about 430 thousand light-years across. This is the extent of its wide-spread arms, which are caused by its gravitational interaction with lenticular galaxy IC 4970; the central portion of the galaxy, which is only 2.0 by 0.9 arcmin, is only about 125 thousand light-years across. Still, our own Milky Way galaxy is only about 100 thousand light-years across, so NGC 6872 is an unusually large galaxy (in fact, according to a 2013 NASA report, perhaps the largest known spiral galaxy).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6873 (= GC 4550 = JH 2068, Struve 2631, 1860 RA 20 02 05, NPD 69 17.9) is "a cluster, a little compressed, stars from 10th to 13th magnitude, double star involved".
Physical Information: Apparent size 14? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6874 (= GC 4551 = JH 2069 = WH VIII 86, 1860 RA 20 02 44, NPD 52 09.6) is "a cluster, poor, a little compressed."
Physical Information: Apparent size 7.0? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6875 (= GC 4552 = JH 3819, 1860 RA 20 03 15, NPD 136 34.4) is "faint, very small, round, very gradually much brighter middle, 7th magnitude star to northeast". The second IC adds "7th magnitude star 3 arcmin to southwest, not northeast (DeLisle Stewart). h. in Cape Obs. has southeast," ("h." being John Herschel = JH in most modern catalogues).
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.4 by 1.4? arcmin.

Physical Information: NED 3K Vr 3206 km/sec

Note About PGC Designation: Although HyperLEDA assigns the PGC designation shown above to this object, a search of the database for that designation returns no result; the 2MASX designation must be used for such a search to succeed, hence the quotes placed around the PGC designation (the same thing is true for a search of the NED).
Physical Information: NED 16.7b, 3K Vr 9203 km/sec, z 0.030697988. A far more distant galaxy, so only an "optical double"

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.7 by 0.4? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6876 (= GC 4553 = JH 3817, 1860 RA 20 03 28, NPD 161 17.1) is "pretty bright, small, round, extremely small (faint) star to southeast, 2nd of 4", the others being NGC 6872, 6877 and 6880.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.7 by 2.4? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one. (In this case, where there is already a perfectly good IC designation, the use of the non-standard "NGC 6876A" is even more egregious.)
Physical Information: Since there is a perfectly good IC designation, see IC 4945for anything else.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6877 (= GC 4554 = JH 3818, 1860 RA 20 03 45, NPD 161 17.2) is "very faint, very small, round, 3rd of 4", the others being NGC 6872, 6876 and 6880.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.1 by 0.6? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6878 (= GC 4555 = JH 3821, 1860 RA 20 04 03, NPD 134 56.5) is "very faint, pretty large, round, gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 1.3? arcmin

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: There are no standards for letter designations for galaxies. This often causes confusion, and occasionally results in data for one object being incorrectly assigned to a completely different object. Because of this, such designations should never be used, except for warnings such as this one.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.8 by 0.8? arcmin

Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6879 (Pickering (HN 55), Copeland, 1860 RA 20 04 04, NPD 73 29.3) is "a planetary nebula, stellar, equivalent to 10th-magnitude star". The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 10 26.6, Dec +16 55 22, dead center on the star in question, so the identification is certain. As in the case of Pickering's other "stellar" planetaries, NGC 6879 is only a few arcsec across, and appears almost perfectly stellar even under high magnification; however, using a filter (such as an OIII filter) that blocks out all radiation save that emitted by clouds of interstellar gas it is possible to "blink" the object. Switching the filter in and out causes stars, which emit only a small portion of their light at the wavelengths passed by the filter, look markedly fainter when the filter is in place, while nebulae look nearly as bright with the filter as without.
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, LEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size 9 arcsec.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6880 (= GC 4556 = JH 3820, 1860 RA 20 04 41, NPD 161 17.1) is "faint, small, round, mottled but not resolved, very small (faint) star attached, 4th of 4", the others being NGC 6872, 6876 and 6877.
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.0 by 0.9? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6881 (Pickering (HN 44), 1860 RA 20 05 43, NPD 53 00) is "a planetary nebula, stellar". The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 10 52.9, Dec +37 24 50, within 0.1 arcmin of the star in question, so the identification is certain. As in the case of Pickering's other "stellar" planetaries (such as NGC 6879), NGC 6881 is only a few arcsec across and appears almost perfectly stellar even under high magnification; however, using a filter (such as an OIII filter) which blocks out all radiation save that emitted by clouds of interstellar gas, it is possible to "blink" the object. Switching the filter in and out causes stars, which emit only a small portion of their light at the wavelengths passed by the filter, look markedly fainter when the filter is in place, while nebulae look nearly as bright with the filter as without.
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, LEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size 16? arcsec.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6882 (= GC 4557 = WH VIII 22, 1860 RA 20 05 58, NPD 63 42.6) is "a cluster, poor, a little compressed."
Discovery Note: As will be discussed in detail when this page is brought up to snuff, this is generally thought to be a duplicate observation of NGC 6885; with an error of 15 arcmin in the declination, or a smaller part of the larger cluster, about 5 arcmin north of the center of that clsuter, but there are other suggestions about what Herschel observed, and those will also be noted when time allows.
Note About PGC Designation: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; but also as usual, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being placed in quotes.
Physical Information: TBA when page completed (in the meantime, see NGC 6885)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6883 (= GC 4558 = JH 2070, 1860 RA 20 05 59, NPD 54 34.3) is "a cluster, pretty rich, double star involved".
Physical Information: Apparent size 35? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6884 (Copeland, 1860 RA 20 05 59, NPD 43 57.2) is "a planetary nebula, stellar." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 10 23.6, Dec +46 27 37, dead on the star in question, so the identification is certain. (For a discussion of the double listing, and of Pickering's ingenious way of detecting "stellar" planetaries, see NGC 6766.)
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; but a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so the designation is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: As for many of the "stellar" planetaries discovered by Pickering and Copeland, NGC 6884 is hardly discernible from an ordinary star except with the use of filters. A "blink" comparison, in which a filter which blocks out light not given off by clouds of interstellar gas, is the easiest way for an amateur observer to tell which of the numerous stars in the region is the planetary nebula. When using such a filter (an OIII filter is the one most commonly used) stars appear noticeably fainter, while nebulous objects are nearly as bright as without the filter; so switching back and forth, the observer looks for objects which "blink" brighter than their neighbors when using the filter. However, as shown in the images below, NGC 6884 does exhibit a nebular ring around the central star. The ring is so much fainter than the star that it would not be visible either visually or in photographs taken with most amateur telescopes. The "normal" planetary nebula (such as imaged by the HST in the last image below) is part of the stellar object at the center of the ring, and I have yet to find any reference to the ring in the literature. This does not mean that it does not exist, and is merely an "artifact"; it is probably a roughly spherical cloud of material ejected by the central star a few thousand years ago, now faded to insignificance. If so, it represents the eventual fate of all planetary nebulae -- to become so large, rarefied, and poorly illuminated that they fade and disappear even as they continue to expand into interstellar space. The distance of objects such as NGC 6884 is typically more a matter of guesswork than direct observation, as the stars at their center are not Main Sequence stars, and have no "standard candle" to help us determine how bright they really are, and from that how far away they might be. In this case, studies of the expansion of the nebula (using HST images) by Palen et al yield distance estimates of 4 to 8 thousand light-years; not a terribly precise value, but still better than nothing. Given that and the approximately 1.2 arcmin size of the outer ring, the outer structure is about 2 light-years across, while the few arcsec apparent size of the "stellar" planetary corresponds to about a tenth of that value.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6885 (= GC 4559 = JH 2071 = WH VIII 20, 1860 RA 20 06 07, NPD 63 55.7) is "a cluster, very bright, very large, rich, a little compressed, stars from 6th to 11th magnitude." The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 11 59.2, Dec +26 29 16, about 0.6 arcmin northwest of the magnitude 5.9 star 20 Vulpeculae (whence the greater assigned brightness of the cluster, even though that star is probably not a physical member of the group), which John Herschel used for the position of the cluster, the description of the surrounding (much fainter) stars fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Per Gottlieb, Karl Harding discovered this object using an 8.5 inch reflector built (per Steinicke) by William Herschel, but rather than publishing the result, included it in a list of discoveries sent to Johann Bode.
Note About PGC Designation: As usual for NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; but also as usual, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, hence its being placed in quotes.
Physical Information: As noted above, the presence of 20 Vul often leads to this cluster being assigned a magnitude of about 6, but since the much fainter stars surrounding that star probably represent the actual cluster, its magnitude is probably about 8. (More TBA ASAP)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6886 (Copeland, 1860 RA 20 06 29, NPD 70 25.7) is "a planetary nebula, stellar, equivalent to 10th magnitude". The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 12 42.5, Dec +19 59 22, dead on the star in question, so the identification is certain.
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, LEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Like most of Copeland's stellar planetaries, NGC 6886 is essentially indistinguishable from an ordinary star using ordinary methods of observation (its apparent size of 0.17 arcmin = only 10 arcsec); but see NGC 6884 for a discussion of the "blink" method used by amateur observers to identify such objects, or NGC 6766 for a discussion of the spectroscopic method used by observers of the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6887 (= GC 4560 = JH 3822, 1860 RA 20 06 38, NPD 143 12.5) is "pretty faint, considerably large, pretty much extended, gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 3.2 by 1.3? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6888 (= GC 4561 = WH IV 72, 1860 RA 20 07 22, NPD 52 01.5) is "faint, very large, very much extended, double star attached". The second IC lists a corrected 1860 RA (per Bigourdan) of 20 07 01.
Note About The Position: The nebula is lit by several stars, with the "central" star being at RA 20 12 06.5, Dec +38 21 18, almost 4 arcmin south of the brightest part of the nebula.
Discovery Notes: Bigourdan also observed the region on Jun 30, 1884, and stated that the region was "rich in stars", but that he could find no sign of the nebula; it was only on the date shown above that he found the nebula "20 seconds of time preceding" the NGC position (whence the correction in the IC2).
Note About PGC Designation: As for most NGC objects, HyperLEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; but as is usually the case in such situations, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, as indicated by it being placed in quotes.
Physical Information: The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula caused by the collision of two waves of gaseous emissions by the "bright" (7th-magnitude) star near its center, WR 136. The star is an approximately 4.5 million year old Wolf-Rayet star of perhaps 40 to 80 solar masses. Wolf-Rayet stars are very massive, extremely hot stars (originally O-type Main Sequence stars) which are near the end of their lives. A few hundred thousand years ago the star swelled up to become a red super-giant, and ejected a few tenths of a solar mass of gas at about 20 thousand miles per hour. About 200 thousand years later, it heated up to several hundred thousand degrees, and began ejecting about a solar mass of super-heated gas per ten thousand years, at nearly 1% the speed of light (3 to 4 million miles per hour). As the faster moving, hotter gas reached the shower-moving, cooler gas previously released, it created a supersonic shock wave, causing the nebula to emit visible (primarily red H‘) light, as well as ultraviolet and X-radiation. The complex filamentary structure of the nebula is real, but its spherical structure is tissue-thin in comparison to its size. Only the surface of the structure is glowing; the hot gas streaming away from the star is essentially invisible. Within a few thousand years the current nebula will fade away, as its gas disperses into the surrounding space; but within a hundred thousand years, a new and even more spectacular nebula will form when the star supernovas. WR 136 and its nebula are about 4700 light-years away. Given that and the approximately 18 by 12 arcmin apparent size of the nebula, NGC 6888 is about 25 light-years across.

Below, a HST false-color image of a shock-heated portion of the nebula. The black and white visible-light image shows the region covered by the HST closeup. (Image Credit NASA, Brian D. Moore, Jeff Hester, Paul Scowen (Arizona State University), Reginald Dufour (Rice University))

Below, a Chandra space telescope X-ray image of a region which includes the HST image above, superimposed on a ground-based image of the whole nebula. The X-radiation detected by Chandra (shown in false-color blue) represents gas shock-heated to about 2 million Fahrenheit degrees. (Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/UIUC/Y. Chu & R. Gruendl et al. Optical: SDSU/MLO/Y. Chu et al.)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6889 (= GC 4562 = JH 3823, 1860 RA 20 08 06, NPD 144 23.0) is "very faint, large, a little extended".
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.9 by 0.7? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6890 (= GC 4563 = JH 3824, 1860 RA 20 08 30, NPD 135 13.9) is "pretty faint, small, round, very gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 1.3? arcmin

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 6891 (Copeland, 1860 RA 20 08 32, NPD 77 41.2) is "a planetary nebula, stellar, equivalent to 9.5 magnitude". The position precesses to (2000) RA 20 15 07.4, Dec +12 44 15, about 2 arcmin north northwest of the star in question, but there is nothing else nearby which in any way matches the description, so the identification is certain.
PGC Designation Note: For purposes of completeness, LEDA assigned a PGC designation to this object, even though it isn't a galaxy; however, a search of the database for that designation returns no result, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: Like many of Copeland's "stellar" planetary nebulae, the central portion of NGC 6891 looks very much like a star (its 0.35 arcmin apparent size corresponding to only 21 arcsec), but there is a faint outer ring visible in long-exposure photographs, which (as in the case of NGC 6884) was presumably ejected by the central star several thousand years ago, and is now fading from view; and even the inner region displays a complex structure in high-resolution images, such as the HST image below. The distance of planetary nebulae is typically more a matter of guesswork than direct observation, as the stars at their center are not Main Sequence stars, and provide no "standard candle" to help us determine how bright they really are. In the case of NGC 6891, the distance has been estimated from studies of the expansion of the nebula, as measured with HST images spaced over a period of about four years. The expansion rate for NGC 6891 turned out to be so slow that it could not be measured in the brief time involved; but comparison with the other objects studied suggests that it is at least 3000 light-years away, as any closer distance would have yielded measurable results (closer distances making the nebula and its expansion rate appear larger).