How many objects have real names rather than catalog numbers?

Well...That depends. If you mean only objects with names like 'Sirius', 'Archernar', 'Lundmark's Nebula','Stefans Quintet', then the number of objects with names like these is around 1000 or less. Most of these are the names of the brighter few hundred stars. But, if you are not a purist and are willing to regard some catalog names as proper names, then the answer is in the 10's of thousands.

Examples of such objects with 'quasi' proper names based on a catalog are:

Wolf 359
Lalande 21185
Krugar 60
Eta Carina
H and Chi Persi
Zeta Ophiuchi
Gleise 290
Sharpless 109
W3
40 Eridani B
NML Cygni
Centaurus A
Omega Centauri
Cygnus X
30 Doradus

Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.