This post presents the 109 objects of the Faint Giants Catalogue, a collection of seldom imaged objects ideal for those astrophotographers with faster scope setups who are looking for new targets to image. The 109 objects are displayed here in 5 compilation posters (Revisions A through E), ordered by Right Ascension.

I have previously posted 6 deep sky object (DSO) catalogs, with links below to my Astrobin posters of each:

1. The catalogue of 110 Messier objects, established in the 1700s by Charles Messier.
2. The catalogue of 109 Caldwell objects, published in 1995 by Patrick Moore.
3. The catalogue of 109 Hidden Treasures objects, published in 2007 by Stephen James O’Meara.
4. The catalogue of 109 Secret Deep objects, published in 2011 by Stephen James O’Meara.
5. The catalogue of 109 Orphaned Beauties, posted in 2020 by myself, comprised of large objects which did not have a home in the first 4 catalogs.
6. The catalogue of 109 Small Packages, posted in 2020 by myself, comprised of small objects (less than 4 arc-minutes wide) which did not have a home in the first 5 catalogs.

The first 4 of these catalogues were directed at visual observing, while the last 2 were directed at astrophotography, although all 6 could be used for either purpose.

Together these 6 catalogues contain 655 of the most interesting objects in the heavens.  A key aspect is that there is no overlap of the above catalogues - each DSO only makes one appearance in the suite of 6 catalogues.

One category not included in the above work, and only made practical with the advent of fast scope astrophotography setups, in that of very faint objects.  This post adds 109 objects in a catalogue that I call Faint Giants.  None of these objects were included in any of the previous 6 catalogues.  In total, these 7 catalogues now identify 764 unique DSOs which represent the best of the heavens for imaging from one's backyard.

The objects in the Faint Giants catalogue are not popular targets, with no NGC members as the primary target and few object nicknames in sight.  This catalogue was the result of two years of sorting, ranking, and then imaging a pool of objects, which I eventually culled down to these 109. 

The Faint Giant breakdown by object type is as follows:

• 30 Emission Nebulae (HII-dominated)
• 29 Dark Nebulae
• 23 Molecular Clouds
• 9 Planetary Nebulae
• 8 Supernova Remnants
• 4 Emission Nebulae (full narrowband)
• 3 Reflection Nebulae
• 3 Dwarf Galaxies

Most of the FOVs here are in the 2 to 3 degree wide range.

I have imaged and posted all 109 of these Faint Giant objects individually on Astrobin, along with a description and technical data for each object.  All of these objects can be seen in my Astrobin Faint Giants Collection.  

Although it is possible to image all of these objects with any setup, I recommend a setup with a focal ratio of 5 or less.  Otherwise, the faint nature of these objects will require 10 to 20 hours of integration time to achieve the signal that you see here.  The RASA/6200 scope and camera combination that I used for most of these images, usually with integration times from 2 to 4 hours, has a focal ratio of f/2.2.

Attached in the Revision section (Revisions F and G) is a table of Faint Giant data, including object location, type, size, distance and description.

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Soon I will be posting a free downloadable pdf which will include all 7 catalogues, containing object images, object data and links.  I also will be posting the next Compendium release soon (5th edition) which will include the Faint Giants catalogue as well as feature updates and hundreds of additional images.