Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1900 (= GC 1108 = JH 2819, 1860 RA 05 18 01, NPD 153 10.2) is "faint, pretty large, a little extended, very gradually very little brighter middle, 7th magnitude star to northwest".
Note: A Wikisky search for NGC 1900 shows the correct object, but labels it as NGC 7076; equally unfortunately, a Wikisky search for NGC 7076 also shows NGC 1900.
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.7? arcmin. In the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1901 (= GC 1109 = JH 2824, 1860 RA 05 18 08, NPD 158 44.1) is a "cluster, bright middle, a little rich, stars from 7th magnitude downwards".
Physical Information: Apparent size 40? arcmin. In the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud, but a foreground object in our own galaxy. (ESO lists an LMC cluster a couple of arcmin from Herschel's position as NGC 1901; but the description makes it clear that it is the much larger scattering of stars in our galaxy that was the object of his attention.)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1902 (= GC 1110 = JH 2823, 1860 RA 05 18 14, NPD 156 46.0) is a "globular cluster, pretty bright, pretty large, round, pretty much brighter middle, partially resolved, some stars seen".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6? arcmin. In the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1903 (= GC 1111 = JH 2825, (Dunlop 127), 1860 RA 05 18 22, NPD 159 28.7) is "very bright, small, round, gradually much brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.0? arcmin. In the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1904 (= GC 1112, Méchain, M79, 1860 RA 05 18 25, NPD 114 39.3) is "a globular cluster, pretty large, extremely rich, extremely compressed, well resolved, clearly consisting of stars."
Physical Information: D25 9.1 arcmin, distance 13.2 kpc. age 11.7 Gyr, perigalaxion less than 1000 ly, very eccentric orbit, changes every time
  M79 is about 42 thousand light-years from the Earth (give or take a couple of thousand light-years). Given that and its apparent size of 9.5 to 10 arcmin, it is about 115 to 120 thousand light-years across. Based on spectroscopic study of its stellar population, it is about 11.7 billion years old. The total visual brightness of the cluster is about magnitude 8, with various references quoting values between magnitude 7.7 and 8.2; this range is due to the difficulty of determining the exact brightness of extended objects, particularly objects such as globular clusters, which gradually fade in brightness with distance from their center. The cluster is one of only a few globulars that are further from the center of the Milky Way than the Sun, being about 60 thousand light-years away from the Galactic Center. In visual observations the cluster appears to be a myriad of faint stars, with an essentially white color; but in telescopic images, which enhance (and to a certain extent exaggerate) the colors, the brightest stars are reddish giants nearing the end of their lives. Most of the fainter stars are stars similar to the Sun, which has an estimated lifetime slightly greater than the age of the cluster. The scattering of bluish stars are stars that have exhausted the hydrogen fuel in their cores and are now undergoing helium-burning in their cores, and hydrogen-burning in a relatively thin shell where the helium core meets the hydrogen-rich envelope surrounding the core. It has been suggested that M79 is not an original member of the Milky Way, but one of several globular clusters captured from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, which will be covered separately at a later date, but in the meantime is briefly discussed immediately below.
The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy: It has been suggested that a stream of stars surrounding the Milky Way and various globular clusters (including M54 and M79) well removed from the center of our galaxy in the direction of Canis Major did not originate in the Milky Way Galaxy, but were "stolen" from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, which is presumably involved in a close encounter with our galaxy. If that is correct, the Canis Major Dwarf is an irregular galaxy with a total stellar population of about a billion stars. However, an opposing view is that the "stream" is merely a result of the warping of the disk of our galaxy by its interaction with the Magellanic Clouds, in which case most of the evidence for the Canis Major Dwarf being a separate galaxy would disappear.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1905 (= GC 1113 = JH 4016, (hon), 1860 RA 05 18 36, NPD 157 25.4) is "faint, small, round, mottled but not resolved".
Discovery Notes: "hon" refers to one of several nebulae accidentally omitted from their proper location in Herschel's Cape Catalog, but rescued from oblivion by an erratum at the end of the catalog, thereby allowing Dreyer to list its proper designation (in this case, JH 4016).
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.0? arcmin. In the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1906 (Leavenworth list I (#148), 1860 RA 05 18 40, NPD 106 05.8) is "extremely faint, pretty small, extended 0°, gradually a little brighter middle". The second IC adds a corrected RA (per Howe and Bigourdan) of 05 18 29.
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.9 by 0.5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1907 (= GC 1114 = JH 354 = WH VII 39, Legentil, 1860 RA 05 18 43, NPD 54 48.5) is a "cluster, pretty rich, pretty compressed, round, stars from 9th to 12th magnitude". The position precesses to RA 05 28 03.8, Dec +35 18 56, well within the outline of the cluster listed above, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Notes: As pointed out by a correspondent, there is no obvious evidence that Le Gentil discovered NGC 1907, but Dreyer's note lists him as an observer of the object, and since essentially all his astronomical observations were carried out between 1745 and 1770, if he observed the object he would have been the first to do so. Unfortunately Dreyer does not list the reference that led him to conclude that Le Gentil observed the open cluster, so whether he or William Herschel was the actual discoverer is not obvious. (The most likely reference would be in a submission of July 26, 1758 to the French Royal Academy (Le Gentil, 1759. Remarques sur les Étoiles Nebuleuses. Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année M.DCCLIX. [Remarks on the Nebulous Stars. Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences. For the year 1759.] P. 453-471 + Pl. 21. Paris, 1765), which is in French; and although my French is not bad, it is not good enough to quickly scan the article; so I will revisit this question in the next iteration of this page.)
Physical Information: Apparent size 5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1908 (= GC 1115 = WH V 33, 1860 RA 05 18 52, NPD 92 39.4) is "very diffused nebula suspected". (William Herschel wrote "Diffused extremely faint nebulosity. The means of verifying this phenomenon are difficult." John Herschel listed it as "suspected" in the GC, and Dreyer did the same in the NGC. So although an entry was provided in both catalogs, NGC 1908's existence has always been in doubt.)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1909 (= GC 1116 = WH V 38, 1860 RA 05 19 10, NPD 98 15.3) is "extremely large, strongly suspected (2° in PD)", the note in parentheses meaning that it extends about 2 degrees to the north and south (Herschel's original observation stated that it extended at least 2° 11' north and south, and 26s of time east and west). The position precesses to RA 05 25 53.7, Dec -08 07 41, but there is nothing in the area that matches the description, so for a long time NGC 1909 was considered a lost or nonexistent object. The object now identified as NGC 1909, the Witch Head Nebula, matches Herschel's description, as it extends about 3 degrees north and south and a degree east and west; but it is 22 minutes of time (over 5 degrees) to the west of his position. The argument in favor of NGC 1909 being the same as IC 2118, which is the Witch Head Nebula, is based on Herschel's method of stating its position. Namely, he placed it a little over 11 minutes of time east of Rigel; but it is actually a little over 11 minutes of time west of Rigel, so he could have observed the Nebula but accidentally reversed its east-west position relative to the star. Since such errors are not uncommon, there is fairly general agreement that the Witch Head Nebula is probably what Herschel observed. However, since that is a relatively recent conclusion, the Witch Head was long identified with IC 2118 and not NGC 1909; so although this entry contains the historical information required to provide a possible identity for NGC 1909, readers should refer to IC 2118 for anything else.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1910 (= GC 1117 = JH 2827, Dunlop 129, 1860 RA 05 19 10, NPD 159 21.5) is a "cluster, large, pretty rich, irregularly round, stars from 11th to 16th magnitude".
Physical Information: Apparent size 8.5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1911 (= GC 1118 = JH 2826, 1860 RA 05 19 13, NPD 156 54.1) is "faint, round, gradually brighter middle, among stars".
Discovery Notes: Herschel observed this region eight times. In seven of the sweeps he observed what became NGC 1920, and did not observe what became NGC 1911. In the remaining sweep he observed what became NGC 1911 and did not observe NGC 1920. The declinations are nearly identical, and although the right ascensions differ by an odd amount (1m 20s, which is harder to explain than 1m exactly, which could be presumed to be a simple recording error), it appears almost certain that NGC 1911 was an erroneous recording of NGC 1920. Therefore, this entry will contain only historical information; for anything else, see NGC 1920.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1912 (= GC 1119, M38, 1860 RA 05 19 17, NPD 54 17.6) is a "cluster, bright, very large, very rich, irregular figure, large and small stars". (Note: See the discussion of Hodierna for an explanation of why he was not credited with the discovery of this object.) Why Dreyer sometimes credited Le Gentil's discoveries and just as often failed to do so appears a mystery. His note that NGC 1912 is Messier 38 is understandable, as Messier's catalog was famous a century beforehand; and Messier probably discovered the cluster independently, for although Le Gentil presented his observations of various nebulae to the French Academy in 1758 they weren't published until 1765, and Messier's listing makes no mention of Le Gentil's prior discovery.
Physical Information: Apparent size 15? arcmin. M38 is a moderately dense open cluster, about 25 light-years in diameter, and 4000 light-years from the Sun. Based on the "turnoff" point of the bright blue stars still on the Main Sequence, the cluster must be about 200 million years old. Over long periods of time, open clusters are disrupted by stars passing through the cluster, so moderately dense clusters are rarely more than a few hundred million years old.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1913 (= GC 1120 = JH (356), 1860 RA 05 19 34, NPD 159 41.5) has "no description, in Nubecula major". "JH (356)" means that this object was identified in a supplementary catalog of objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and not assigned a "standard" entry in Herschel's Cape Catalog.
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.6? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1914 (= GC 1121 = JH 2830, 1860 RA 05 19 36, NPD 161 23.7) is "faint, large, irregularly extended".
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.2? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1915 (= GC 1122 = JH 2828, 1860 RA 05 19 37, NPD 156 56.4) is "extremely faint, pretty large".
Corwin suggests a couple of possibilities for this object, but whether either is at all convincing remains to be seen, so for now the "lost or nonexistent" stands; but I will revisit this in a later iteration of this page. (Whatever Herschel saw was probably in the LMC.)

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1916 (= GC 1123 = JH 2829, 1860 RA 05 19 39, NPD 159 32.8) is "bright, small, round, very gradually very much brighter middle, mottled but not resolved".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1917 (= GC 1124 = JH 2831, 1860 RA 05 19 53, NPD 159 08.3) is "very faint, large, round, very gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1918 (= GC 1125 = JH (369), 1860 RA 05 20 10, NPD 159 46.6) has "no description, in Nubecula major". "JH (369)" means that this object was identified in a supplementary catalog of objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and not assigned a "standard" entry in Herschel's Cape Catalog.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1919 (= GC 1126 = JH 2832, 1860 RA 05 20 15, NPD 157 01.0) is a "cluster, extremely faint, large, irregularly round, much compressed, partially resolved, some stars seen".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.7? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1920 (= GC 1127 = JH 2833, 1860 RA 05 20 33, NPD 156 54.7) is "pretty bright, pretty large, round, very gradually brighter middle".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1921 (= GC 1128 = JH 2834, 1860 RA 05 20 34, NPD 159 55.1) is "very faint, pretty small, a little extended, mottled but not resolved".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1922 (= GC 5063 = JH (374), 1860 RA 05 20 53, NPD 159 36.6) has "no description, in Nubecula major". "JH (374)" means that this object was identified in a supplementary catalog of objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and not assigned a "standard" entry in Herschel's Cape Catalog.

Physical Information: Apparent size 0.5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1923 (= GC 1129 = JH 2835, 1860 RA 05 21 07, NPD 155 37.0) is "very faint, pretty small, round".
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.9? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1924 (= GC 1130 = WH III 447, 1860 RA 05 21 07, NPD 95 26.7) is "very faint, pretty large, irregularly round, stars near".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.6 by 1.2? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1925 (= GC 1131 = JH 2837, 1860 RA 05 21 22, NPD 156 00.3) is a "cluster, very little rich, a little compressed, stars of 10th magnitude".
Physical Information: Apparent size 11? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1926 (= GC 1132 = JH 2838, 1860 RA 05 21 41, NPD 159 39.9) is "pretty bright, pretty large, irregularly round, mottled but not resolved, in diffuse nebula".
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.7? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1927 (= GC 1133 = JH 356, 1860 RA 05 22 01, NPD 98 29.7) is a "diffused nebulosity". A note adds "h 356 (= GC 1133). Looked for three times at Birr Castle; twice the sky was fancied to have a milky appearance." Herschel observed the area only once, saying there was a diffused nebulosity all around the place (hence the NGC description). The position precesses to that given above, but there is nothing there.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1928 (= GC 1134 = JH 2839, Dunlop 131, 1860 RA 05 22 02, NPD 159 36.9) is "pretty faint, pretty large, round, gradually brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1929 (= GC 1135 = JH 2840, 1860 RA 05 22 02, NPD 158 03.6) is "faint, preceding of group", the latter comment presumably meaning it is the western member of a group of objects.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1930 (= GC 1136 = JH 2836, 1860 RA 05 22 03, NPD 136 51.1) is "pretty faint, small, round, brighter middle, 4 bright stars to west".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.9 by 1.2? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1931 (= GC 1137 = JH 355 = WH I 261, 1860 RA 05 22 09, NPD 55 52.0) is "very bright, large, round, bright triple star in middle".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1932 (= GC 1138 = JH 2841, 1860 RA 05 22 15, NPD 156 16.5) is "pretty bright, small, round, suddenly much brighter middle, part of a double nebula separated by 80 arcsec, at a position angle of 26° (relative to each other)", the other nebula being NGC 1933, the 26° corrected by an erratum in the original NGC to read 260°. Since the GC and NGC are in order of right ascension, Herschel's earlier number in the GC (GC 1138) must be the western member of the pair, so it automatically becomes the western member in the NGC (namely NGC 1932) as well.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1933 (= GC 1139 = JH 2841, 1860 RA 05 22 15, NPD 156 16.5) is "extremely faint, round, stellar, part of a double nebula separated by 80 arcsec, at a position angle of 26° (relative to each other)", the other nebula being NGC 1933, the 26° corrected by an erratum in the original NGC to read 260°. Since the GC and NGC are in order of right ascension, Herschel's later number in the GC (GC 1139) must be the eastern member of the pair, so it automatically becomes the eastern member in the NGC (namely NGC 1933) as well.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1934 (= GC 1140 = JH 2842, 1860 RA 05 22 21, NPD 158 02.9) is the "2nd nebula of group", the 1st nebula presumably being NGC 1929.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1935 (= GC 1141 = JH 2843, 1860 RA 05 22 25, NPD 158 05.3) is "pretty faint, small, round, 3rd of group", the 2nd presumably being NGC 1934.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1936 (= GC 1142 = JH 2844, Dunlop 175, 1860 RA 05 22 42, NPD 158 06.4) is "a remarkable object, pretty bright, small, round, 4th of group", the 3rd presumably being NGC 1935.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1937 (= GC 1143 = JH 2845, 1860 RA 05 22 44, NPD 158 01.8) is "very faint, pretty large, follows a group", the group presumably consisting of NGC 1929, 1934, 1935 and 1936.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1938 (= GC 1144 = JH 2848, Dunlop 89?, 1860 RA 05 22 46, NPD 160 04.7) is "pretty bright, pretty small, round, gradually a little brighter middle, part of a double nebula separated by 50 arcsec, with a position angle of 339°". Since the GC and NGC are in order of right ascension, Herschel's earlier number in the GC (GC 1144) must be the western member of the pair, so it automatically becomes the western member in the NGC (namely NGC 1938) as well.
Physical Information: Apparent size 0.6? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1939 (= GC 1145 = JH 2848, Dunlop 89?, 1860 RA 05 22 46, NPD 160 04.7) is "faint, small, round, gradually a little brighter middle, part of a double nebula separated by 50 arcsec, with a position angle of 339°". Since the GC and NGC are in order of right ascension, Herschel's later number in the GC (GC 1145) must be the eastern member of the pair, so it automatically becomes the eastern member in the NGC (namely NGC 1939) as well.

Physical Information: Apparent size 0.5? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1940 (= GC 1146 = JH 2847, 1860 RA 05 22 55, NPD 157 18.8) is "pretty bright, very small, round, brighter middle, 2 stars of 9th and 10th magnitude to east".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.0? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1941 (= GC 1147 = JH 2846, 1860 RA 05 22 55, NPD 156 30.6) is "very small, nebula plus stars".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1942 (= GC 1148 = JH 2849, 1860 RA 05 23 51, NPD 154 04.4) is "extremely faint, stellar, 14th magnitude star plus nebula".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.1? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1943 (= GC 1149 = JH 2850, Dunlop 90, 1860 RA 05 23 53, NPD 160 16.8) is "pretty faint, pretty small, irregularly round, very gradually a little brighter middle, 15th magnitude star 60 arcsec distant at position angle 190°.6". (Steinicke lists as Dunlop 91.)
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1944 (= GC 1150 = JH 2852, 1860 RA 05 24 27, NPD 162 36.3) is "pretty bright, pretty large, round, brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size 3.3? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1945 (= GC 1151 = JH 2851, 1860 RA 05 24 48, NPD 156 34.7) is "most excessively extremely faint, very very large, irregularly diffuse".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1946 (= GC 1152 = JH 2854, Dunlop 237?, 1860 RA 05 25 09, NPD 156 30.5) is "pretty faint, round, gradually brighter middle, mottled but not resolved".
Physical Information: Apparent size 1.0? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1947 (= GC 1153 = JH 2855, (Dunlop #421), 1860 RA 05 25 38, NPD 154 52.7) is "pretty bright, large, round, gradually a little brighter middle, 9th magnitude star to northwest". The position precesses to RA 05 26 14.6, Dec -64 45 46, but there is nothing there nor anywhere near there. Per Corwin, the problem and its solution was first noted by Shapley and Ames in their 1932 catalog; namely, Herschel's NPD is one degree too large (such single-digit errors are not common in the NGC, but they aren't uncommon either), and the position should be (1860) RA 05 25 38, NPD 153 52.7 = (2000) RA 05 26 31.8, Dec -63 45 48, about 1.8 arcmin west of the galaxy listed above, which perfectly fits the description (including the roughly 9th magnitude star to the north-northwest), so the identification is considered certain.
Discovery Note: At the time of Herschel's observation Dunlop 421 had not been identified with any object; but per John Cozen's 2008 PhD thesis it is now thought to be the same galaxy, hence the addition of Dunlop's observation (in parentheses) to Dreyer's NGC entry.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation of 1150 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 1947 is about 50 to 55 million light-years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 40 to 65 million light-years (the HST press release uses a distance of 40 million light-years). Given that and its apparent size of about 3.2 by 2.8 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 50 thousand light-years across. Based on the dust lanes backlit by the stars behind them, this galaxy is thought to have originally been a spiral, and the dust lanes are the remnants of what was left after some kind of catastrophe (probably a high-angle merger of two spiral galaxies, since the dust lanes are more or less perpendicular to the major axis of the current spheroidal galaxy) blew most of its gas and dust into intergalactic space, essentially ending the formation of new stars and transforming it into the more ball-like structure that we now see.
Classification Note: Although not listed in the de Vaucouleurs Atlas of Galaxies, NGC 1947 is discussed in an NED excerpt from de Vaucouleurs' 1959 paper on the classification and morphology of galaxies, and the type shown in the description line is taken from that paper. Corwin notes that the galaxy looks very similar to the more famous Centaurus A (NGC 5128), which is classified as S0^- or S0 pec.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1948 (= GC 1154 = JH 2856, 1860 RA 05 25 40, NPD 156 23.1) is a "cluster, considerably large, rich, stars of 13th magnitude".
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 1949 (= GC 1155 = JH 2857, 1860 RA 05 25 47, NPD 158 35.5) is "pretty bright, small, round, pretty suddenly brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size of the brighter nebulosity 0.6? arcmin.