I have previously uploaded 4 compilation posters of popular deep sky object catalogs:

1. The catalog of 110 Messier objects, established in the 1700s by Charles Messier.

2. The catalog of 109 Caldwell objects, published in 1995 by Patrick Moore.

3. The catalog of 109 Hidden Treasures objects, published in 2007 by Stephen James O’Meara.

4. The catalog of 109 Secret Deep objects, published in 2011 by Stephen James O’Meara.

In total, these 4 catalogs contain 437 of the most interesting objects in the heavens, enough to satisfy most avid amateur astronomers over their lifetime.

Although each of the above 4 catalogs contain some great astrophotography targets, the genesis of the 4 above catalogs was in visual astronomy and not astrophotography. Unfortunately, many of the best and most interesting objects in the sky never found a home in these 4 catalogs, since their beauty is seen and appreciated through astrophotography and not eyepiece viewing.

In order to find these beautiful but ignored objects a home, I have assembled the best 109 of these objects into this catalog, which I have entitled Orphaned Beauties (OB for short). None of these 109 OB objects are included in the above 4 catalogs. All of these OB objects are at least 4 arc-minutes in size and usually are much larger, enabling these targets to be accessible by anyone with scopes in the common focal length range of 400 to 1000 mm.

The list includes some objects, like the Horsehead Nebula and the Seagull Nebula, which are among the very best objects that the sky has to offer. Others, such as the Teapot Nebula, Gyulbuddaghian’s Nebula, and the Hermit Crab Nebula, are more obscure. This catalog has more diversity than any of the other 4 catalogs, containing 28 galaxies, 14 emission nebulae, 14 HII regions, 11 dark nebulae, 9 reflection nebulae, 9 supernova remnants, 7 galaxy clusters, 6 planetary nebulae, 4 open star clusters, 4 bright nebulae, 2 Wolf-Rayet nebulae, and 1 globular star cluster.

The high resolution poster (12816 x 9255) is best seen using Astrobin's full resolution view. The 109 objects are sorted in order of right ascension, starting with OB1. In addition to this poster, I have uploaded 2 images which describe the catalog in tabular form, showing the location, size, object type, transit date and nickname for each object. For more detailed information on each of these objects, please see my Astrobin Orphaned Beauties Collection.

I have created a sortable spreadsheet that contains key information for all of the objects from the 5 catalogs mentioned above. A screenshot of the spreadsheet is attached as an example. In total, these 5 catalogs contain over 500 unique objects, the majority of which make interesting astrophotography targets. To obtain a free copy, please email me at [email protected]

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.