Collinder catalogue


In astronomy, the Collinder catalogue is a catalogue of 471 open clusters by Swedish astronomer Per Collinder. It was published in 1931 as an appendix to Collinder's paper On structural properties of open galactic clusters and their spatial distribution. Catalogue objects are denoted by Collinder, e.g. "Collinder 399". Dated prefixes include as Col + catalogue number, or Cr + catalogue number, e.g. "Cr 399".

Vital statistics

The Collinder Catalogue contains 29 objects which are part of the Messier catalogue:
The Collinder catalogue pre-dates the Caldwell catalogue by 64 years. The Collinder catalogue contains 28 objects which are members of the Caldwell catalogue:

Collinder objects

Errors

There are some errors in Collinder's list or references to it. For example:
  • Cr 21, 27, 57, 396, 399, and 426 are asterisms.
  • Cr 32, 33, and 34 all refer to parts of the much larger IC 1848.
  • There is "some doubt" as to whether or not Cr 84, 182, 221, 254, 265, 269, 283, 294, 336, 387, 404, 425, 456, and 458 are open clusters.
  • The positions of Cr 109 and 185 are inaccurate.
  • Cr 202 is actually the central condensation of the much larger Cr 199.
  • Cr 220 was believed by Collinder to be NGC 3247 when in reality he discovered a "new" open cluster.
  • Cr 234 was applied to the southern section of the much larger Cr 233.
  • Cr 240 is actually the central condensation of the much larger Cr 239.
  • Cr 267, 328, 330, 346, 364, 366, 368, 381, 395, 409, and 414 are globular clusters.
  • Cr 334 and 335 are duplicate listings of the same object.
  • The original alias given for Cr 339 is the galaxy NGC 6393. The correct alias for Cr 339 is the open cluster NGC 6396.
  • The original alias given for Cr 371 is of the nebula which surrounds an open cluster he discovered. He apparently did not know he was first to make the distinction.
  • Cr 374 is imbedded within the much larger Messier 24.
  • Collinder erroneously believed Messier 11 was a globular cluster.
  • Collinder’s description of Messier 73 is actually for Messier 72, a globular cluster, and not the object he intended for Cr. 426.
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