biology

Uppsala General Catalogue

Uppsala General Catalogue is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Uppsala General Catalogue rather than just read about it. In short: The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies (UGC) is a catalogue of 12,921 galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere. It was first published in 1973.

Key takeaways

Uppsala General Catalogue belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Uppsala General Catalogue to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Uppsala General Catalogue from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies (UGC) is a catalogue of 12,921 galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere. It was first published in 1973.

The catalogue includes essentially all galaxies north of declination −02°30′ and to a limiting diameter of 1.0 arcminute or to a limiting apparent magnitude of 14.5. The primary source of data is the blue prints of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). It also includes galaxies smaller than 1.0 arcminute in diameter but brighter than 14.5 magnitude from the Catalogue of Galaxies and of Clusters of Galaxies (CGCG). The catalogue contains descriptions of the galaxies and their surrounding areas, plus conventional system classifications and position angles for flattened galaxies. Galaxy diameters are included and the classifications and descriptions are given in such a way as to provide as accurate an account as possible of the appearance of the galaxies on the prints. The accuracy of coordinates is only what is necessary for identification purposes. The catalogue was edited by Peter Nilson, at the time Doctor of Astronomy and a researcher at Uppsala, who had already published some essays about the history of his science. A couple of years later he left his career as a professional astronomer and became a full-time writer, novelist and essayist, although the relationship of humans to space and cosmology, and the history of science, remained powerful themes in his later writing.

Addendum There is an addendum to the catalogue called Uppsala General Catalogue Addendum, which is abbreviated as UGCA, and contains 444 galaxies.

See also List of astronomical catalogues Uppsala Uppsala Astronomical Observatory Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala

References

External links UGC - Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Uppsala General Catalogue

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Uppsala General Catalogue claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Uppsala General Catalogue before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Uppsala General Catalogue ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Uppsala General Catalogue

In research: Uppsala General Catalogue appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Uppsala General Catalogue in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Uppsala General Catalogue is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1973 documents, 1973 in science, Astronomical catalogues of galaxies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Uppsala General Catalogue outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Uppsala General Catalogue” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Uppsala General Catalogue in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Uppsala General Catalogue means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Uppsala General Catalogue out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Uppsala General Catalogue in simple terms?

The Uppsala General Catalogue of Galaxies (UGC) is a catalogue of 12,921 galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere. It was first published in 1973.

Why does Uppsala General Catalogue matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Uppsala General Catalogue?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Uppsala General Catalogue.