The Bergeron Selection (BS)

Joe Bergeron's List of Favorite Obscure Deep-Sky Objects

There's a minor fad of amateur astronomy personalities tossing together a list of 110 deep sky objects (some of which they may have actually seen), slapping their name (or some part of it) on it, and then publishing it as their own personal "catalog." Well, why should I be left out?

Permit me to present the Bergeron Selection, or BS List. Why not the "B" list? You see, Edward Emerson Barnard already thoughtlessly used that letter for his catalog of dark nebulae or whatever. That means I'm stuck with a lot of BS. Brian Skiff, when you get around to making your own catalog, you'll just have to pick some other letters.

I'm not the ferret of thousands of deep-sky objects that some observers are, but I have seen and recorded over 800. Here are a few of the prettiest or most intriguing of the lesser-known objects I've looked at. Most were observed with a 6" telescope, and none are terribly challenging (except for Bergeron 1).

BS #	Other Catalog #	Con.	Description
1	Bergeron 1	Cep	Minute, elongated clump of stars some 10' south of IC 1470.  See Uranometria 2nd Edition, Chart 18. Heh.
2	NGC 1999	Ori	A cute little nebula not far from M42.
3	NGC 281	Cas	A rather complex nebula, greatly enhanced by a UHC filter.
4	NGC 188	Cep	Rich, ancient open cluster not far from Polaris. Rather faint.
5	NGC 4559	Com	Bright, patchy-looking galaxy.
6	NGC 7027	Cyg	A tiny, blue planetary.
7	NGC 6819	Cyg	An open cluster shaped like a prong or a pair of pincers.
8	NGC 6871	Cyg	A bright open cluster. Spectacular field.
9	NGC 4631	CVn	Huge cigar-like edge-on galaxy.
10	NGC 4244	CVn	Another huge edge-on galaxy.
11	NGC 6946	Cep	A huge face-on galaxy. Forms a close, pretty pair with the following object.
12	NGC 6939	Cep	A rich fan-shaped open cluster. Stars from a sprinkler.
12	NGC 7640	And	Highly elongated bright galaxy.
14	NGC 404	And	Round galaxy very near Beta Andromedae. High-contrast optics help here.
15	NGC 2359	CMa	Thor's Helmet nebula. A complex little blur, spectacular in large scopes.
16	NGC 4151	CVn	Strange Seyfert galaxy...tiny bright core surrounded by faint halo.
17	NGC 5866	Dra	Bright, impressive, elongated galaxy.
18	NGC 278	Cas	Small, round, bright, traces of detail. Nicest galaxy in Cassiopeia.
19	NGC 7128	Cyg	Tiny jewel-like circlet of an open cluster.
20	NGC 1023	Per	Bright, elongated galaxy, an arresting sight.
21	NGC 1491	Aql	Fan-shaped nebula hanging off the west side of a star. UHC filter helps.
22	NGC 1245	Aql	Very pretty, small, rich open cluster with a mottled face.
23	NGC 381	Cas	Round, rich open cluster. Has a string of stars trailing north that makes it look like a balloon.
24	NGC 6712	Sct	Nice little globular cluster. Forms an interesting close pair with the following object.
25	IC 1295	Sct	Faintish planetary nebula. Can be glimpsed in 70mm telescope. UHC filter is helpful.
26	NGC 7008	Cyg	Large, complex, oval planetary nebula. Oddly puffy and clumpy.
27	NGC 2298	Pup	A nice globular cluster where you wouldn't think to look for one.
28	NGC 2477	Pup	Very dense open cluster. Would be much better known if farther north.
29	NGC 1502	Cam	Bright, dart-shaped cluster at the end of the Kemble's Cascade asterism.
30	NGC 2403	Cam	Large, bright, detailed galaxy, one of the best in the sky.
31	NGC 2567	Pup	Curious cluster consisting of a straight line beside a "v". It's the ".vI" Cluster.
32	NGC 2482	Pup	Cluster composed of a pair of narrow overlapping ellipses. Could be an atom, a flying swan, or a bow and arrow.
33	NGC 2301	Mon	Big, splashy, bright cluster shaped like a fat flying fish.
110	NGC 1535	Eri	Fine planetary nebula with an icy blue color.