Editing New General Catalogue (section)

==Original catalogue==
{{See also|List of NGC objects|Category:NGC objects|List of stars in the New General Catalogue}}
The original ''New General Catalogue'' was compiled during the 1880s by [[John Louis Emil Dreyer]] using observations from [[William Herschel]] and his son [[John Herschel|John]], among others. Dreyer had already published a supplement to Herschel's ''[[General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters]]'' (GC),<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last=Dreyer |first=J. L. E.
 |date=1878
 |title=A Supplement to Sir John Herschel's "General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars"
 |url=https://archive.org/details/supplementtosirj00dreyrich
 |journal=[[Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy]]
 |volume=26 |pages=391–426
 |bibcode=1878TRIA...26..381D
 |jstor=30079091
}}</ref> containing about 1,000 new objects. In 1886, he suggested building a second supplement to the ''General Catalogue'', but the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] asked Dreyer to compile a new version instead. This led to the publication of the ''New General Catalogue'' in the ''[[Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society]]'' in 1888.<ref name="HaleBradt">
{{Cite book
 | last=Bradt | first=H.
 | date=2004
 | title=Astronomy Methods: A Physical Approach to Astronomical Observations
 | pages=52
 | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
 | isbn=978-0-521-53551-9
}}</ref><ref name="Dryer1888">
{{cite journal
 |last=Dreyer |first=J. L. E.
 |date=1888
 |title=A New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, being the Catalogue of the late Sir John F.W. Herschel, Bart., revised, corrected, and enlarged
 |url=https://archive.org/download/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich/newgeneralcatalo00dreyrich.pdf
 |journal=[[Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
 |volume=49 |pages=1–237
 |bibcode=1888MmRAS..49....1D
}}</ref>

Assembling the NGC was a challenge, as Dreyer had to deal with many contradictory and unclear reports made with a variety of telescopes with apertures ranging from 2 to 72 inches. While he did check some himself, the sheer number of objects meant Dreyer had to accept them as published by others for the purpose of his compilation. The catalogue contained several errors, mostly relating to position and descriptions, but Dreyer referenced the catalogue, which allowed later astronomers to review the original references and publish corrections to the original NGC.<ref name=history>{{cite web
 |last=Corwin
 |first=H.G. Jr.
 |date=12 October 1999
 |title=The NGC/IC Project: An Historical Perspective
 |url=http://www.ngcicproject.org/history.htm
 |publisher=The NGC/IC Project
 |access-date=2012-04-22
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510214957/http://www.ngcicproject.org/history.htm
 |archive-date=10 May 2012
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref>