IC 1 is a double star or -- more exactly -- the southwestern component of a double star. Bigourdan measured the northeastern star on just one night in November 1886, commenting, "The measured object is a star 13.3 near which, at PA = 240 deg, d = 0.4 arcmin, is found another star of the same brightness. This second star is not quite [completely] stellar, and could be accompanied by some traces of nebulosity." The second star is in fact stellar, which accounts for Bigourdan's failure to see any nebulosity again in 1888 and 1890. Bigourdan's position for the northeastern star is good, as is his estimated offset for his suspected nebula. For many years, we took the pair to be IC 1, but Bigourdan is clear that he suspected just the southwestern star to be nebulous, so I've fixed the main table to reflect that. (6 Sept 2013) ----- This may be a good place to say a few words about Guillaume Bigourdan and his "novae" as he called them. He observed all the known nebulae and clusters that he could with the 30-cm refractor at the Paris Observatory, making micrometric measurements of most of these objects with respect to nearby stars. While he recorded his measurements to a fraction of an arcsecond, it is clear, simply looking at his tables, that the usual accuracy that he achieved in his final positions is on the order of no better than two or three arcseconds. Bright objects, not surprisingly, have better accuracy than faint ones, and stellar objects better accuracy than diffuse ones. For his new objects -- 559 numbered, with more unnumbered scattered through his tables of observations -- he has this to say (my translation from his original French): These new nebulae are nearly all very faint; those which are indicated as more or less stellar could be nothing more than simple stars, for which the images are agitated and disturbed by the atmosphere; it is often difficult to clearly distinguish between a small nebula and a very faint star. Here [in the tables of observations], as during the course of the measurements themselves, I call 13.5 the magnitude of objects which, for me, are at the extreme limit of visibility with the eyepiece I used. There can therefore at least be some doubt about the nebulous character of the objects for which the listed magnitude is 13.5; and it is the same for the very faint clusters and for the nebulae listed around and in the neighborhood of certain [presumeably bright] stars. This has, in fact, turned out to be the case. While some of Bigourdan's "novae" are certainly "new" nebulae and clusters, many are nothing more than single, double, or other multiple stars. In particular, most of the objects which he calls "clusters" are nothing more than asterisms of two or more stars. Some of the very faintest objects are simply illusory: this happened often enough that Bigourdan himself labeled them "fausse images" -- "false images" -- when he suspected their true nature as optical illusions at the limit of his eyesight. He also did not spend a lot of time measuring these faint new nebulae. His goal was to provide accurate positions for the known nebulae, and to determine proper motions in an attempt to find at least statistical distances for the objects. Thus, many of the "novae" have nothing more than estimated offsets from the nearby comparison stars. Even for these, however, the identity of the comparison object is always clearly specified, so their positions can always be derived and verified. Thus, almost all of the "novae" can be pinned down on the sky to within a fraction of an arcminute or better; only a very few of Bigourdan's new nebulae and clusters have identification problems. ===== IC 6 is the 89th object in Truman Safford's list of 106 nebulae published in the Annual Report of the Dearborn Observatory for 1885 and 1886. These were found in 1866-68 by Safford and A. N. Skinner (five objects). Dreyer identified 59 of the objects as occuring in the NGC, and listed the remaining 47 new objects in an appendix to the NGC. However, when compiling the first IC, Dreyer decided to include these 47 as IC objects, "... as very few people ever think of referring to an appendix." In this case, Dreyer assigned Safford's object to IC 8. However, Courtney Seligman points out that Safford's position is much closer to IC 6 than to IC 8, and that IC 6 is a magnitude brighter than IC 8. It is virtually certain therefore, that Safford discovered IC 8 rather than IC 6. Javelle's observations of both IC 6 and IC 8 came along a quarter of a century later; his positions are good, so there is no problem with their identifications. Only Dreyer's misassignment of Safford's object needs correction. ===== IC 8 is not Safford 89. See IC 6 for the story. ===== IC 11 = NGC 281. IC 11 is one of Barnard's discoveries that he sent directly to Dreyer; it is not, as far as I know, in any of Barnard's published papers. Though included in Cederblad's catalogue of bright diffuse nebulae (and thus plotted in several atlases), it is not on the sky in Barnard's position. I have not found it on the POSS, nor on plate 89 of Barnard's own collection of comet and Milky Way photographs (Lick Publ. XI; 1913). However, the triple star mentioned in the description suggests the identity with NGC 281, and makes the RA just 30 minutes of time too small. I suspect a simple transcription error on Barnard's part. Brian Skiff suggests that the triple, HD 5005, be taken as representing the nebula. Even though it is not exactly at the geometric center of the nebula (which I put 10 seconds of time further east), I have adopted the star's position to represent the entire object. Note that the components of the triple are blended on the DSS plates. All three are easily visible in the 2MASS images. ===== IC 14 is a double star about 35 seconds north of Bigourdan's single estimated position. He saw it only once, and then just barely: "Several times I suspected a nebulous object at the given position; it is at the extreme limit of visibility." He could not find it again (twice) a decade later. Bigourdan found this double star while measuring NGC 95; indeed, it is at nearly the same declination just 17 seconds of time to the east. I don't think that the fainter star could have been seen in Bigourdan's 31-cm telescope, but it may have added an impression of nebulosity to the brighter one. This has once in a while been suggested as a part of JH's nebulosity that became NGC 56 (which see). But Bigourdan's observation is similar to many others of his of similar stars and double stars near the limit of his optics. I keep in mind, too, that he was observing with an F17.2 refractor which would not have been good for large, diffused nebulosity. It was, however, ideally suited to small compact objects, as most of his "novae" are. So, I have no doubt that the double star is the object that he saw. ===== IC 26 = NGC 135, which see. ===== IC 39 = NGC 178, which see. ===== IC 44 = NGC 223 is the brighter of two galaxies (N219 is the fainter). These were found by G.P. Bond at Harvard, and N223 was independently discovered by d'Arrest. The positions and descriptions are good. Swift's later description is also appropriate, especially his reference to the two stars flanking the galaxy, each about 3 arcmin away in PA's 160 deg and 340 deg. The latter of these stars is also noted by Bond in his description of NGC 219. ===== IC 45 can probably be taken as a pair of stars near Bigourdan's position. Malcolm Thomson and Steve Gottlieb have pointed out that the identification of UGC 449 as IC 45 in several modern lists, including my first guess in 1976 about its identity, is incorrect. Bigourdan's original observations support their idea. Bigourdan found the 106th and 107th of his "new nebulae" on 15 Nov 1889, but measured only the first, giving an estimated position to the second of the two. A decade later, he remeasured the first, could not find the second, but noticed a "Granulated object which could be a small cluster about 40 arcsec across" nearby. He measured the object twice that night; his reduced position is almost exactly on the brighter of two stars aligned nearly east/west and separated by about 20 arcsec. Even though his original estimated position (where he found nothing because there is nothing there!) is in the IC with the cursory description "Suspected nebula," his final list of novae has the later position with the note "Small cluster?" Thus, we take the asterism as his object even though it is not, strictly speaking, represented by the entry in the IC. ===== IC 48 = IC 1577. The position as originally published by Barnard (AN 3097; MNRAS 55, 451) is correct. In reducing the declination to 1860, however, Dreyer applied the precession with the wrong sign. This galaxy is also identical to I1577 which has an 1 min error in its RA. Barnard apparently rediscovered this after his move to Yerkes. As with so many others of his later nebulae, he sent the discovery note directly to Dreyer rather than publishing it. Barnard thought this nebula was variable: is it perhaps a Seyfert galaxy (the colors and spectrum are normal for an S0, however), or was there possibly a supernova near the nucleus? ===== IC 59. This large diffuse nebula was discovered by Barnard and Wolf. Barnard found it and IC 63 on a plate taken 2 February 1894 with the 6-inch F5 Willard portrait lens, and confirmed them on another plate of 6 February of the same year. His paper, showing a sketch of the field, is in Astronomy and Astro-Physics 13, 177, 1894 dated 7 February 1894. He didn't tarry with his publishing! He also visually examined the field on 6 February with Lick Observatory's 12-inch at 80X and saw both nebulae, though "with utmost difficulty." He gives positions relative to gamma Cassiopeia for the nebulae, but has not reduced them to RA and Dec. Wolf's short note on these is in AN 3214. He does not give exact dates for his plates, but says they were taken in December 1893 and January 1894; his note is dated 17 January 1894. A third new nebula noted by Wolf, IC 155 (which see), does not exist on the modern sky surveys, so is apparently a plate defect. IC 59 is quite a bit brighter on the blue sky survey plates, befitting its identification as a reflection nebula associated with gamma Cas. IC 63 is somewhat less blue -- the star's UV light has ionized some of the hydrogen in the nebula, so H-alpha emission is prevalent across the area, too. Barnard mentioned both objects as "two small nebulae" near gamma Cas in his splendid first collection of photographs in the Lick Observatory Publications, Volume XI, 1913. However, he did not name them, and he seems to have mostly ignored the Index Catalogue numbers throughout the volume, even when the objects themselves are clearly shown on his plates. These two nebulae are visible in three Plates 5, 6, and 7; they are best seen in Plate 5 where gamma Cas is centered. Plate 7 was the first taken on 2 February 1894 -- this is apparently the plate he mentioned in his paper. The plate taken the following night is not included in Barnard's monograph, but Plate 6 was taken on 7 November of the same year, and Plate 5 on the next night. ===== IC 63. See IC 59. This is also a reflection nebula associated with gamma Cas, though shows as well considerable H-alpha emission from excitation by the star. Wolf's position is about 10 arcminutes southeast of the nebula, but there is no other object nearby that better matches his description: "eL, pB, iF, !! [sic]; conn [with IC 59]." ===== IC 67 and IC 68. Bigourdan has rough measurements of IC 67 (B109) and IC 68 (B110) on 21 Nov 1889, placing them both at PA = 152 deg , 4 arcmin and 6 arcmin, respectively, from BD -7 158. On 6 Dec 1898, he puts IC 67 at the same place, but says of IC 68, "I cannot see this nebula. Perhaps it was confused with 109 Big." On the next night (7 Dec 1898), he has this to say about IC 67 (he didn't measure it then), "Pretty stellar object; I can't comment clearly on its nature." There is nothing in either of these positions on the POSS, not even faint stars. As with other similar objects, I think that -- knowing that he was in a group of nebulae -- he was pushing his eyes too hard, perhaps on a less than ideal night. ===== IC 68. See IC 67. ===== IC 71 and IC 72. For IC 71 (Big 111), Bigourdan has observations and crude measures on two nights. On 21 Nov 1889, he roughly measured an "exceedingly faint" nebula at 280deg, 4arcmin from HD 6031 = BD -07 159; while on 6 Dec 1898, he found a "stellar object" at 295deg, 5arcmin from the BD star. While the second estimate is closer to a faint star, I think that both observations must refer to that same star; there is nothing else nearby which he could have seen. I've listed the GSC position of this star in the main table. He observed IC 72 (B112) only once (21 Nov 89): "stellar object, probably nebulous" at 347deg, 2arcmin from the bright star. On the second night, (6 Dec 1898), he notes "Object only suspected" and gives no measures or even estimates of its position. There is a faint star at 5deg, 1.3 arcmin from the star, and I suspect it is this that he saw and mistook as nebulous. However, the actual offset is rather far from his estimated place (especially the position angle), so I don't place much weight in this identification. Nevertheless, I list the star's position under the IC number in the main table. There is nothing else within a reasonable distance of his estimated position that he might have seen. Note, however, that there are several NGC objects, all found by Marth with Lassell's 48-inch reflector, within 15 arcminutes of the HD star: NGC 340, 342, 345, 347, 349, and 350. Bigourdan has observations of all of these, but there are a couple of fainter objects in the area. One of these is near NGC 347, the second is 1.5 arcminutes southwest of the bright star. Were it not so close to the star, I suspect it is bright enough that Marth and Bigourdan might have picked it up. Coincidentally, this galaxy has a star about 0.6 arcmin southwest that is about as bright as the stars in the area that Bigourdan may have mistaken as nebulae. All of these are in the position tables as "N0347 comp", "I0072: comp", and "I0072: comp nrby *"; the star is also called "N0349 nearby B *". ===== IC 72. See IC 71. ===== IC 77 and IC 80 are two of Javelle's galaxies in the core of Abell 151. He found both on 31 August 1892, and measured both with respect to BD -16 189. His positions are very good since the BD position for the star is within 10 arcsec of the modern position. MCG misidentified IC 80 as IC 77. This has caused some confusion in modern catalogues, though RC2 has the right IC number on the pair, calling the brighter of the two "IC 80A" (though the RC2 position is for the southern; my apologies!). That is MCG -03-04-008 which is actually northeast of MCG -03-04-009, the fainter galaxy, called "IC 80B" in RC2 (again my apologies for the wrong position in RC2). These are the two objects in the cluster with redshifts measured by Milton Humason at Mt. Wilson. Though not called IC 80 by him, his finding chart points unambiguously to them. See the HMS 1956 AJ paper for the finding chart and redshifts. ===== IC 80. MCG misidentified this as IC 77. See that for more. IC 80 itself is double; Javelle's position, though, points quite clearly at the brighter, northeastern component as the object he saw and measured. That position is a bit offset to the southwest; perhaps Javelle was somewhat influenced by the light of the companion? ===== IC 85 may not exist, though I mistook it for a star many years ago when I skimmed the field in Edinburgh. Here is the full story. Bigourdan mentions the object four times in his publications. First, it appears as the 113th object in a list of his "novae" published in Comptes Rendus 112, 647, 1891. He gives the position as 01 04 37, 91 13 (for 1860, just as Dreyer copied it correctly into the first IC) and describes it simply as "m = 13.5; traces of nebulosity near BD -1d 156." (The star is also HD 7162.) The position precesses to 01 11 45, -00 29.4 for J2000.0. I've called this "IC 0085.1" in my position tables, though adopt another of Bigourdan's positions for it (more below -- keep reading!). Looking into Bigourdan's massive introduction, we find in his 2nd table of new nebulae this listing for his 113th "nova" where he specifically calls it "85'" (meaning IC 85; this table was prepared long after the 1st IC appeared): "01 07 33 -00 47, [no magnitude]; 1888 Dec 6, traces of nebulosity." The position is for 1900.0, and precesses to 01 12 39, -00 15.1 for J2000.0, notably different from that in the Comptes Rendus list. I've called this position "IC 0085.2" in my tables. This is the only one of Bigourdan's "nova" Big 113 positions with nothing within an arcminute that he could have seen. Then, it appears in his big tables of observations as a single sighting on 6 December 1888 with no measurement and the description "Star 13.5 indicated above [in the description for and] near NGC 430 at PA = 125 deg, d = 2.7 arcmin; it could be preceded by an extremely faint nebula; this star itself could be a little nebulous." His offset implies a position of 01 13 08.8, -00 16 42 (J2000.0), assuming the UCAC position for NGC 430. There is nothing in Bigourdan's place, though there is a faint star (perhaps a blended double) somewhat closer to the galaxy at PA = 115, d = 2.0. Bigourdan's position is called "IC 0085.3" in my position tables. Finally, in his list of "Complementary Measures" given in his big introduction, there is an entry for a "nova" found on the night of 6 Dec 1888 with an estimated measurement of -0m 05.2s, -0' 45" from BD -1d 156. Going through the reduction to derive a position for this "nova" from a modern position for the comparison star gives 01 11 45.9, -00 27 28 for J2000.0, which is just the IC position, given with a bit more precision. I've taken this as the position for "IC 0085.1" in my position tables as the IC entry seems to refer to this object and the neighboring BD star. ----- Seeing this star on the red DSS2 image in January 2018, I am struck by how faint it is, and how close to the HD star it is. I doubt very much that Bigourdan could have seen this. Could this faint star perhaps have lent the impression of nebulosity to the brighter one? A visual observer would have to evaluate the field to answer this question. ----- So, Bigourdan is referring to at least two different "novae" -- perhaps three! -- in the area around NGC 430 and BD -1d 156, and has apparently conflated the several discordant observations under the single number "113" in his lists of new nebulae. And, after all of that, there are only faint stars near any of his estimated positions that he could have reasonably seen. So, we are probably stuck with another "Not found" IC object. ===== IC 87. See IC 88. ===== IC 88 was misidentified in MCG. Unfortunately, LEDA carried the wrong galaxy along for a while. The right one is not in MCG, but is cleanly identified by Javelle's micrometric measurement. Curiously, IC 87, measured just a few minutes before IC 88, was correctly identified for MCG. Given that the IC positions are within an arcminute of the modern positions (and Javelle's when a good position is used for his reference star), the relative offset might have been a clue to IC 88's correct identification. ===== IC 89 = NGC 446, which see. ===== IC 92 is not NGC 468 as I had long supposed. Courtney Seligman wrote in March 2015 that he had noticed that the declination of NGC 468 is identical with NGC 472 (which see for the full story). Briefly, NGC 468 is almost certainly a second observation of NGC 472 -- the brighter of the two galaxies in the area -- and is far less likely to be IC 92 -- the fainter -- with which it shares its RA. When Bigourdan went over the area late in 1885 and again in 1900, he incorrectly identified a star close to JH's position as N468. On the same nights, he found what he thought were two new nebulae in the area. One of these (IC 94) is another star, but the other (IC 92) is indeed a "nova". The identity of IC 92 and NGC 468 was first suggested in MCG. Vorontsov apparently did not notice that NGC 472 shares its declination with NGC 468, or he was impressed by the proximity of NGC 468's nominal position to IC 92. ===== IC 93 = IC 1671, which see. ===== IC 94 is a star. Bigoudan found this while searching for NGC 468. See IC 92 for a bit more on the field. ===== IC 97 = NGC 475, which see. ===== IC 106 = NGC 530. This "bug" arose because of bad timing. Bigourdan found the galaxy in November of 1887, just a year after Swift had first discovered it. Swift sent the discovery to Dreyer in a letter (from which it went into the NGC), then published the galaxy in his sixth list. Bigourdan also published the galaxy as a "nova" after the NGC appeared, but apparently did not realize that it was Swift's object because of the difference in RA. So, it got an IC number, too. When Bigourdan went over the area again in 1897, he had completely forgotten his earlier observation, so remeasured the galaxy with respect to the same comparison star. This second time, he recognized that the object was the same one Swift had seen and gave it its NGC number in his list. He also noted the difference in RA. Howe also caught the RA difference and published a corrected position in 1898. This appeared as a note in the second IC. Dreyer also added the identity to Howe's corrected RA. Finally, MCG suggested that the galaxy was also IC 1696, but that is a different galaxy a few arcminutes southeast found by Howe. ===== IC 107 = IC 1700 (which also see). This is the brightest of three galaxies near Swift's position. The position given by Swift -- 20 sec in error -- coincidentally falls near UGC 978, the faintest of the three. Swift, however, mentions the star 0.5 arcmin southwest, confirming the identification with the brightest. Javelle later took the brightest as a new discovery, so it received the second IC number. ===== IC 110 might be a double star, but is more likely one of Bigourdan's illusory objects, or it suffers from a misidentified comparison star. He found it the night of 5 November 1885, and based his position for it on an estimated offset from IC 111: "Mag 13.5 object situated near Big 121 [IC 111] at PA = 320 deg, distance = 0.8 arcmin; it could be a little nebulous." There is nothing in that position (there is also nothing in the place of IC 111, which see). About 30 arcsec northeast of the estimated place, however, is a faint double star that Bigourdan might possibly have seen. Is this IC 110? I doubt it. Since there is no trace of IC 111 at its place -- nevertheless micrometrically measured -- IC 110 is just as unlikely to be in its estimated place. The possibility still exists that it is a real star or galaxy, but I do not see a pair of objects of the right descriptions in the area offset from a star similarly bright as the nominal comparison star (BD +33 250). ----- Also, with each star at V = 17.1 (converted from the SDSS photometry), these two stars are probably beyond the reach of Bigourdan's 30-cm refractor. They should perhaps have another query added to the name! ===== IC 111, like IC 110 (which see), is probably lost. Bigourdan has three observations of I111 on two different nights at two different positions. His first micrometrically measured place, which is the IC position, comes from 5 November 1885, but there is nothing at all within an arcmin of that position. He describes the "object" simply: "This object could be a star accompanied by a little nebulosity." The second position, from two measurements on 19 December 1900, is about 2 arcmin away from the first in the midst of an asterism of 6 faint stars. This is not the IC position, so even though Bigourdan's description ("Slightly granulated object about 30 arcsec in diameter; it could be formed by several small dispersed stars in the guise of a pretty nebulous ensemble") and position are appropriate for the asterism, I can't really take this as the IC object. What, then, does his first observation 15 years earlier refer to? Unless he misidentified his comparison star (he calls it BD +33 250), this is one of Bigourdan's illusory objects like NGC 2529 and NGC 2531. He also claimed to have found IC 110 nearby. That, too, is missing, and I don't see a pair of objects, stars or galaxies, in the area offset from a star similar to BD +33 250 that might fit his observations. ----- Like the two stars that are near the estimated position of IC 110, the six stars perhaps forming IC 111 are quite faint. The brightest of them is V = 15.2 which must have been close to the limit of Bigourdan's 30-cm refractor. There is another even fainter star to the southwest, as well as a faint, small galaxy in the midst of the asterism. Both are so faint, however, that I doubt either played any role in Bigourdan's observations. ===== IC 116. See IC 117. ===== IC 117 = NGC 560. Every now and then, I can do really silly things. When I started on this project, I did not have a good feel for the original data that went into the NGC and ICs. So, I tended to overlook obvious points that now leap off the page at me. Javelle's descriptions, for example. Dreyer called the 58th nebula in Javelle's first list "pF, S, dif, III 441 [NGC 560] sf." Well, the only object north-preceding NGC 560 is a pretty bright star. So, I took that star to be IC 117 without checking Javelle's original paper. Are pretty bright stars "pF," "S," and -- especially -- "dif" [diffuse]?" Not usually. So, 29 years later, when I ran across my note that this was a star, I looked at Javelle's original monograph to find out what's wrong. Dreyer got the data copied into the IC correctly, but he apparently interpreted Javelle's footnote "On a vu les nebuleuses NGC 558, 560, 564" simply as "III 441 sf". NGC 560 would indeed be "sf" if IC 117 were at the position that Javelle says it is, but there is nothing there. The star is about 20 arcsec northeast of Javelle's position, so it is definitely not the object he measured. Re-reducing his observation does us no good as that lands within the round-off error of the correctly-copied NGC position. Did Javelle perhaps make a sign error? Nope -- there is nothing at any of the offsets implied by such an error. How about his comparison star? Well, on the night in question, he observed another nearby nebula (IC 116) using BD -2 221 as his comparison star. He claims to have used BD -2 220 for IC 117; is it possible that he used 221 instead? Actually, yes. Reducing his observation with the modern position for BD -2 221 drops his position within 2 arcsec of the nucleus of NGC 560. There is no doubt that IC 117 is identical with NGC 560. By the way, Carlson claims in her 1940 collection of Mt. Wilson identifications that IC 117 = NGC 558. I do not know what this is based on -- the nominal position of IC 117 is closer to NGC 560 than it is to NGC 558. ===== IC 124 is a star. Javelle's micrometric position is within 6 arcsec of the modern positions, though his description "Very faint, very small, diffuse; there is a very small brilliant point in the nebulosity" does not fit the star. Perhaps he made his measurement during a spell of less than perfect seeing, or ... Fill in the dots with your own hypothesis. There are many other such objects in the IC with no explanations. The observers obviously thought they had bagged new nebulae. We shall probably never know exactly why so many of these "novae" turned out to be nothing more than single stars. ===== IC 126. Is this perhaps also NGC 580? See the discussion under NGC 577 for the details. ===== IC 131 is a group of HII regions immersed in two small star clouds in M 33. It is often misidentified as the much brighter compact HII region about half an arcminute preceding the northern star cloud. This cannot be the IC object as Bigourdan's measurements clearly point at the star clouds, his description fits them, and he specifically mentions the compact HII region calling it a 13.5 magnitude star. Bigourdan found this the night of 28 October 1889 when he went over the face of M 33 carefully. He also found IC 132 through IC 137, IC 139 and 140, and IC 142 and 143 (some of these have notes here); and he measured the known NGC objects as well as M 33 itself. Quite a productive night! ===== IC 133. This is a relatively faint complex of HII regions and star clouds in M 33. It is generally extended north-south, with Bigourdan's position located toward the southern end where there appears to be a fairly compact HII region. The position table reflects the difficulty in pinning down the center of this complex. I've given an explicit position for the bright HII region, but encourage you to look at the complex to get an idea of what Bigourdan might have been looking at. ===== IC 134 is a star superposed on the northern side of M 33. Though Bigourdan estimated its position on only night, and noted it as "only suspected," there are no other objects in the area that are bright enough that he could have seen. ===== IC 135, IC 136, IC 139, and IC 140. These are all HII regions or star clouds in M 33. There is an error in Bigourdan's estimated offset from M 33's nucleus of his comparison star for these four. He claims that the 10th magnitude comparison star is 8' south, and 31 seconds of time preceding the nucleus. There is no star that bright in that position. However, there is a star of the right brightness 8 arcmin south and 31 seconds of time FOLLOWING the nucleus. When Bigourdan's measured offsets for his four novae are referred to this star, the four objects can be pretty easily identified (but see IC 139!). IC 135 itself appears to be double on the Sky Survey images, so I've measured positions for both clumps. Bigourdan, however, gives no description beyond an estimated magnitude (13.5, his faintest possible) for it, perhaps because he was moving fast to measure all of the other knots on the face of M 33 on that same night (see IC 131). I think it's unlikely that he saw more than an extremely faint, diffuse nebula here. ===== IC 136. Bigourdan has only one observation of this on 28 October 1889 when he was working across the face of M 33. He says of it, "Nebulosity nearly completely imperceptible because of its faintness." While that makes it clear that he didn't see any detail in it, the Sky Survey images show an east-west one of three relatively bright knots standing out against a star cloud. I've given positions for all three in the table, and have noted that the middle knot -- looking more like a clump of several stars -- is a bit fainter than the eastern and western knots. Also see IC 135 where an error in Bigourdan's observation is explained. ===== IC 138 is one of five objects found by A.N. Skinner at Dearborn Observatory in 1867, and included in Truman Safford's list -- first referred to in the NGC Appendix -- included in the first IC. See IC 1528 for a bit more on this. ===== IC 139. The identity is not quite certain. I first measured the position of a star cloud that I thought was IC 139, but this turned out to be half an arcminute north of Bigourdan's micrometric position. Checking the field, however, I found that his position is very clearly on a foreground star (or possibly a compact HII region?) of about 14th magnitude embedded in a confused area of fainter stars. His description is telling, too, as he refers to a nebula about 30 arcsec across with a brighter central point that he measured. It seems likely that the combination of the star and the background light of M 33 led him to think he had found a nebula. The position I've adopted, after some consultation with Steve Gottlieb and Tony Flanders, is that of the 14th magnitude star. I've measured two or three other star clouds in the area as well and their positions are in the table, too. Also see IC 135 for a note on the identity and position of Bigourdan's comparison star. ===== IC 140. See IC 135. ===== IC 142 is one of the knots in M 33 that Bigourdan found on the night of 28 October 1889. On Sky Survey images, it is elongated southwest to northeast, with the northeastern end being somewhat larger and brighter. The positions for both ends are included in my position list, as well as the adopted position for the whole knot. The various automated digital sky surveys put the center at slightly different positions depending on how much of the background they pick up. While I've chosen the USNO-B1.0 position as being pretty representative of the whole knot, the place from the Northern APM survey would do just as well. That from the UCAC scans clearly fits the northeastern end better. ===== IC 146 = NGC 648. The NGC object is one of those found at Leander McCormick soon after their 26-inch refractor went into service. The galaxy not given a good position: the nominal RA is 1.6 minutes of time too far east -- though the declination is only two arcminutes out -- and there is no surviving sketch. There are no other candidate galaxies, so the identification is pretty secure. The eastward RA error is a common one in the first two lists of nebulae found with the 26-inch. The position was corrected by Herbert Howe in one of his Monthly Notices articles. Dreyer copied Howe's corrected RA into the IC2 Notes. Unfortunately, neither Howe nor Dreyer noticed that the corrected position coincided with that of IC 146, found in September of 1892 by Javelle with the 30-inch refractor at Nice. Javelle's micrometrically measured position is good, and the IC identity is not in doubt. ===== IC 148. Swift found this nearby galaxy on 30 September 1890. He says of it, "eeeF, pS, v diff; np of [NGC] 660." His listed declination is identical to that of NGC 660, and there is nothing in that place. However, just 20 arcminutes north is a low-surface-brightness galaxy with the same redshift as NGC 660 matching Swift's description. In particular, it is "np of 660" rather than being "on the parallel" as Swift might have described it had it been straight west as his position implies. As far as I have seen, the correction first appeared in Dorothy Carlson's 1940 collection of corrections to the NGC and ICs. There is no doubt that this is Swift's object. ===== IC 151, IC 152, IC 153, and IC 157. Four "nebulae" found by Swift for which his positions refer to nothing in the area. (The galaxy identified as IC 152 in CGCG, and adopted by Wolfgang and the Lyon group, could well be one of those seen by Swift. But the position is well off and nothing else nearby matches). A thorough examination of POSS plates E-14 and O-15 revealed no galaxies matching his descriptions or relative positions. ----- My earlier search was clearly not thorough enough. Steve Gottlieb turned his telescope on the area in April 2017. He found two galaxies that, with four minute-of-time corrections to Swift's reported RAs, could match IC 153 and IC 157, both found on 25 September 1890. See IC 153 for that story. This suggested to me that IC 151 and IC 152, found by Swift on 11 August 1890, might have similar RA errors. In this case the RAs are out by five minutes of time, but otherwise the galaxies are matched by UGC 1271 and NGC 677. The declinations are within an arcminute in both cases and the RA difference between the two is correct as well. Further, Swift's note for IC 152 "vF * close" could match either of the stars nearby (0.8 arcminutes south-southwest, or 0.9 arcminutes northwest), or even NGC 675 1.3 arcminutes west-northwest. From his observations, Steve suggests the star to the northwest is most likely to be the star that Swift mentioned. While this is a reasonable hypothesis, I have nevertheless marked the numbers in the position tables with colons. But on the surface at least, it looks as if these could well be the objects that Swift found. ===== IC 152 is probably identical to NGC 677; see IC 151 for the story. ===== IC 153. Steve Gottlieb has suggested that this is probably UGC 1260, and IC 157 is probably UGC 1274. In an email in April 2017, he writes I was just taking a look at IC 153 and 157, two Swift discoveries on 25 Sep 1890. There's nothing at his positions and everyone has concluded "Not found". But I noticed that if he made 4 minute errors in recording or transcribing the RA, then it's possible IC 153 = UGC 1260 and IC 157 = UGC 1274, as the declinations are a pretty good match. Swift's descriptions in this case are not very helpful, but he does say this about IC 157: "D * and wide D p, nf of 2." Do these comments apply to UGC 1274? Well, about 8[arcmin] northwest of UGC 1274 is a 10th magnitude star (SAO 92644) that does have a wide companion, and also 8[arcmin] southwest is a closer and fainter double star. So, I think these conditions are met. The RA differences with Swift's positions are just 4 minutes of time for IC 153, and 3.5 minutes for IC 157, while the Dec differences are about an arcminute in both cases. Given that Swift's description of the double stars west of IC 157 is accurate, I think that Steve has found the correct galaxies. Nevertheless, usual caution suggests colons on the IC numbers in the position tables. Also see IC 151 for a similar solution for another pair of galaxies in the same part of the sky, also found by Swift late in the summer of 1890. ===== IC 155 does not exist. It was found by Wolf on an early Heidelburg plate. The position has been copied correctly into the IC, and Wolf gives positions in the area three times in his short paper, so there can be no large error in his reduction or in publication. This, therefore, may be one of the earliest examples of a photographic plate defect being mistaken for a nebula. ----- Steve Waldee has suggested that this may be an internal reflection in Wolf's telescope. This could be checked on the original plate if it still exists. I should also note that Courtney Seligman has uncovered (in 2013) a mistake in my precession of Wolf's original position (I apparently used an NPD of "30 05.5" instead of the correct "30 55" for the NPD). Unfortunately, there is still nothing in the corrected position. Courtney has a copy of the SDSS image and a short note at http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ic1a.htm#ic155 . ===== IC 157 is probably UGC 1274. See IC 153 for the story. ===== IC 161 and IC 162. Swift's positions are again not good, but it seems likely that he saw the brightest of the three galaxies in the area in 1889, and the two brightest in 1890. Therefore, his position for the brightest (IC 161) would be 10 arcmin in error for the 1890 observation. With these corrections, the original IC data would read as follows: IC 161 Sw IX and X 01 41 20 80 20.4 eeF, pS, lE IC 162 Sw X 01 41 23 80 20.3 eeF, pS, R ===== IC 162. See IC 161. ===== IC 165 = NGC 684. Dreyer does not give any references in the IC2 Notes for the source of this identity. However, Steve Gottlieb has found that Isaac Roberts (in AN 3429) notes the identity on one of his early photographic plates. It's likely that Dreyer picked it up in this article. The galaxy was rediscovered, by the way, by Edward Swift, Lewis Swift's teenage son, in January 1890 while Edward was "searching for Swift's Comet." The comet was presumeably one of his father's. ===== IC 177. One of the rare cases of a rather large error in Javelle's positions. Two fainter galaxies are to the south, one of which was mistakenly identified in the MCG as I177. ===== IC 186. Javelle noted this as a double nebula, though there are actually three components -- the eastern galaxy is itself a close double. There is a much fainter compact galaxy south of the western component, but Javelle could not have seen it with the Nice 30-inch. ===== IC 187 and IC 188. Though large errors exist in Swift's places for these two galaxies, they could have been seen by him, and the descriptions are not inconsistent. ===== IC 188. See IC 187. ===== IC 191 = NGC 794. Swift's position is just nine seconds preceding JH's (adopted for GC and NGC), close enough that Dreyer suggested the identification in the IC. The descriptions are quite different, however, suggesting that Swift picked up the galaxy on a particularly good night, while WH and JH must have seen it on poor nights, or when their speculum mirrors needed repolishing. In any case, the identity is almost certain as there are no other galaxies nearby that the Herschel's or Swift could have seen. ===== IC 198. See IC 199. ===== IC 199 = IC 1778. When the same galaxy is discovered twice by the same observer, it is usually by one whose positions are not very good (e.g. Lewis Swift has quite a few objects in his lists that he "discovered" more than once). It is rather unusual that Javelle, who measured everything he found micrometrically, should list the same object as new in two different lists. Yet that is what he has done. When his observations are reduced, they fall within about a dozen seconds of each other, and both point unmistakeably to the same galaxy. Even more curiously, on the second night (29 Jan 1897), he noted that he also remeasured another of his "novae," IC 198, from the first night (15 Dec 1892). Yet he did not recognize that his observations of the object in question were in fact for the same object. Curious indeed, but there it is. ===== IC 200. The galaxy 34s preceding the IC position is probably too faint to have been seen by Safford, and the description does not match in any case. The object 2 minutes of time preceding does match his description, and a 2 min digit error is more likely to be made than a 34s error. (My original note had both objects mentioned above "following" the IC position. In 2013, Courtney Seligman caught the error, and kindly let me know about it.) See IC 1008, IC 1026, and IC 1030 for other notes on nebulae found by Safford with the Clark 18.5-inch that also share digit errors in their RA's. ===== IC 206 and IC 207. The positions were referred to the wrong star by Javelle. The correct star is BD -7 372. When re-reduced with respect to this star, Javelle's positions fall within a few arcseconds of the modern ones. His relative positions are also good, and his descriptions match the galaxies. I209 (whose place in Javelle's list is correct), referred to what Javelle supposed to be the same star (BD -7 364), was found and measured two nights later than I206 and I207. IC 206 is a peculiar spiral with a knotty bar that dominates the DSS images. The center of the bar, as seen in the SDSS and PanSTARRS-1 images, is taken up by three red knots, one perhaps the nucleus (I've adopted the position of this to represent the galaxy). To the southeast -- still in the bar -- are at least two brighter blue knots, presumably HII regions. The brighter of the two appears in the SDSS, PanSTARRS, and Carlsberg Meridian catalogues; I've listed its position separately. This galaxy is also the second (IC 207 is the brightest) in a relatively tight group of four. The two to the south are considerably fainter. ===== IC 207. See IC 206. ===== IC 209. See IC 206. ===== IC 210 is one of five objects found by A.N. Skinner at Dearborn Observatory in 1867, and included in Truman Safford's list -- first referred to in the NGC Appendix -- included in the first IC. See IC 1528 for a bit more on this. ===== IC 214 is a triple interacting system. Though I've had the IC object itself listed as just the brightest component for some time, I see no indication that Javelle saw it as anything other than a single object. So, I've changed the designations of the components just a bit for this latest release (September 2013). Note, though, that the position for "IC 214" still applies to the southwestern component -- that has not changed. The small western component, which I had previously suggested to be a foreground star, is clearly shown by its spectrum to be a galaxy at the redshift of the system. The galaxy is Markarian 1027 as well as KUG 0211+049, and is large enough to have made it into UGC. ===== IC 217 = IC 1787, which see. ===== IC 219. There is no indication that either Frank Muller at Leander McCormick or Stephane Javelle at Nice saw the faint companion just to the northwest. So, I have changed the designation for that galaxy for the lastest version of the position list (September 2013). ===== IC 223 is a nearby, high-surface-brightness Magellanic irregular galaxy. The bar and arms are very knotty (I measured positions for two of the brightest seen on the 2MASS J-band image), and the position of the entire object is to some extent a matter of opinion. I've adopted that of the patchy bar as seen on the same 2MASS J-band image as the best compromise, but any of the others listed would do as well. ===== IC 225 may also be NGC 867, which see. ===== IC 228 = NGC 944, which see. ===== IC 229. A nebula is marked on the CD chart, and Dreyer read its position correctly from the chart -- but it does not, in fact, exist. Since Thome was observing with a small telescope (12.5 cm), it is unlikely that he saw and incorrectly recorded any of the fainter galaxies in the area. Unlike the other four "nebulae" found by Thome (IC 1023, 1203, 1207, and 1290), this one is not an asterism, either. The nebula is not on the 1929 edition of the CD charts, so may have been an error affecting only the first edition. Courtney Seligman ( http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ic2.htm#ic229 ) has suggested that Thome's object is the 12th magnitude star an arcminute south of CD -24 1093. See Seligman's discussion for more detail. I've put the star in the position table as a possible identification for IC 229. ===== IC 233 has been misidentified as the fainter, southern galaxy of a pair, most recently by LEDA and NED. It is, of course, the northern, brighter object. That has the star south 1 arcmin, too, just as Javelle noted. ===== IC 240 is probably a line of four faint stars. The IC position is correctly copied from Bigourdan's second list of novae in Comptes Rendus, but his detailed observations suggest that he applied his estimated offsets to the comparison star with the wrong signs. In that case, the position would be about an arcmin southeast of NGC 996; there is nothing there. However, this observation is in Bigourdan's list of errata. There we find that the data in the big table is reversed from its true values: "In place of PA = 30 deg, read 210 deg and change the signs of delta RA and delta Dec." When this is done, we can recover the IC position, and find that it falls near the line of stars. I'm still curious about his description in Comptes Rendus: "Mag. 13.3; 35-40 arcsec." His description in the observation list reads only "eF, only suspected." Where did the size come from? (There are several other such discrepancies among his published novae.) In this case, there is no supplemental observation, so the source of his size estimate remains a mystery. In any case, it's clear that Bigourdan was not much interested in his "novae," and preferred to spend his time measuring the brighter, well-known nebulae. ===== IC 242 is one of a double star. Javelle's position is not good enough to tell us which one, and his description, "eF, eS; nearly in contact with a very small star," does not give us relative positions, either. But it looks as though the proximity of the two stars misled him to seeing nebulosity where there is none. Since we can't tell which one he saw, I'm simply going to assign the number to both stars. IC 243, found the same night, and less than 3 arcmin to the northeast, is well-measured with respect to the same comparison star, so there is no possibility of a mistaken comparison star for IC 242. ===== IC 243. See IC 242. ===== IC 249 = NGC 1051 = NGC 961. In spite of Javelle's assertion that IC 249 is "distinct from NGC 1051" (he says nothing about the relative orientations; that is Dreyer's interpretation for IC1), his measured position shows that it is the same object as the one that Stephan saw (and later Stone; his RA is 10 minutes off, leading to the number N961 for his observation). Here are the precise positions: RA (1950.0) Dec Notes Stephan 02 38 34.63 -07 08 52.0 (Re-reduced wrt GSC pos for comp *) (NGC 35 08.9) Javelle 02 38 33.57 -07 08 56.2 (Ditto) Bigourdan 02 38 34.07 -07 09 03.5 (Ditto; one delta dec rej). Skiff 02 38 34.15 -07 08 59.9 GSC 02 38 34.01 -07 08 57.5 n = 2 HC 02 38 34.1 -07 09 00 Sup * GSC 02 38 35.69 -07 08 33.7 n = 2 Notice that Stephan's position is about 1.05 seconds (16 arcsec) following Javelle's, though the declinations agree to within the errors. One possible source of the large difference is proper motion of the comparison stars. This could be significant since each of the visual observers used only one comparison star each (each used a different star). However, Stephan's comparison star (BD -7 490 = Weisse 678) is almost 1.5 degrees away from the galaxy, while Javelle's and Bigourdan's are about 5-6 arcmin distant. Therefore, I'm inclined to give a lower weight to Stephan's position for NGC 1051 than to Javelle's or Bigourdan's. It's also possible, of course, that one or the other of them simply made a 1 second of time error somewhere in their reduction or transcription to the publication. However, when Javelle made his measurement, Stephan's was the only other micrometric observation, so Javelle probably assumed that it was correct. This might lead him to believe that the difference (21 arcsec) between St's RA (as given in NGC) and his own is significant. The difference is coincidentally close to the RA difference (25 arcsec) in the GSC between the galaxy and the superposed star north following. If Javelle saw the star with even the slightest haze, he could well have thought that it was the real NGC 1051, since it is considerably brighter than the galaxy. Thus, he would have listed the galaxy as a "new" object even though it is clearly the same one that Stephan and Stone saw. The similar descriptions from all the observers, including Steve Gottlieb's, also point to their having seen the same object. Unfortunately, as was his custom, Javelle did not mention the superposed star. ===== IC 256. This identification is now (March 2005) fairly secure. The object I've picked for IC 256 is very faint, and I'm surprised that Swift could see it. However, Steve Gottlieb reports a solid detection with his 17.5-inch reflector, so it is conceiveable that Swift could indeed have picked it up with 16-inch refractor. This particular galaxy falls out almost by default if the two brighter objects Swift found nearby -- on the same night -- get the numbers IC 257 and IC 260. Swift's absolute positions for those two are not too bad, but his descriptions help only with I260 -- he has it "in line with 2 nr F sts"; the stars are there. He notes his other two objects as being "in [a] vacancy." This isn't quite true as this is a low-latitude field rich in faint stars, but there are no eye-catchingly bright stars near the galaxies. Finally, there is nothing at his position for I256 except I257. I had earlier posed the question "Is this another case where an observer picked up the same galaxy twice on the same night?" Well, maybe, but it's doubtful. In any event, I'm going to take this galaxy as IC 256 on the basis of Steve's observation. The galaxy, by the way, is either a double galaxy, nearly completely merged, or a galaxy with a faint star superposed just 4-5 arcsec north of the nucleus. None of the images I've seen are completely clear about the nature of the northern object, at least without detailed photometry and/or spectroscopy. ===== IC 257. This was seen by WH in 1786, but never published. The story is in the "notngc" files. Also see IC 256 where this figures in that galaxy's identification. ===== IC 258. See IC 259. ===== IC 259. Burnham gives his original observations and reductions for this and its neighbor IC 258 in Lick Obs. Publ., II, 181, 1894. All his measurements referred to BD +40 608 are correct, but his final position for "Neb. II." (the galaxy in IC 259) is 29 seconds of time in error -- Burnham applied his offset with the wrong sign. So, IC 259 is actually west of IC 258, and precedes it across the sky. Courtney Seligman points out that the SDSS clearly shows the second "nebula" of IC 259 to be a double star. Courtney's note about this in early 2013 led to my re-evaluation of Burnham's observations. For consistency with Brian's chosen positions for the galaxies, I have selected the 2MASS positions for the two stars, though the positions from the Carlsberg Meridian Transit, also in the table, are certainly good enough, too. ===== IC 260. See IC 256. ===== IC 261 = NGC 1120, which see. ===== IC 263 and IC 264. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Malcolm Thomson found the correct one: BD -0deg 436 (Javelle incorrectly claimed -0deg 438). When this change is made, CGCG 389-027 clearly becomes IC 263, with Javelle's re-reduced position falling within 2 arcsec of the nucleus. IC 264, however, is subject to yet another error: Javelle's printed RA offset has the wrong sign. When changed to the correct minus sign, I264 is shown to be a faint, otherwise uncatalogued galaxy matching Javelle's description. As with I263, his re-reduced position is within 2 arcsec of the nucleus. ===== IC 264. See IC 263. ===== IC 274. There is nothing much near Swift's position. About 7 arcmin northeast is a galaxy that he might have seen, however. And 3 arcmin east is a small group of stars (a double and a triple) that could also be the object he saw. Unfortunately, he does not tell us anything about the star field, so neither of these is a very solid identification. ----- Swift does have an interesting note attached to his description of this object: "The most diff[icult] object yet seen here [Warner Observatory in Rochester, NY]. Another still fainter suspected near." While at such faint magnitudes, it's very easy to mistake stars for galaxies and vice versa, there is in fact a faint galaxy just south-southeast of the asterism. I've included it as a possible candidate for IC 274 in the position table. ===== IC 275 is a triple galaxy close to Swift's position. It's possible that his object is only one of the three, and that the "F star near preceding" is a second. There are also two candidates for his "D star nr sp", the prime one being a wide double about 3 arcmin southwest. I've taken the brightest object as IC 275. It is a cD galaxy in a cluster with an extended corona that encompasses the other two components; those may merely be optical companions rather than interacting with the main galaxy. ===== IC 280 may be no more than an asterism of 4 faint stars. There are no galaxies or nebulae within 10 arcmin of Swift's position, and his description is scanty enough to make the stars a likely candidate. Also, Swift's positions for the other four objects found that night are pretty good, aside from a -1 minute error in the RA of IC 282 (which see). ===== IC 281 = NGC 1177. This is a clear case of oversight on Dreyer's part, as well as Swift's. The positions are very close, and the descriptions are also very similar. Dreyer himself made a measurement of N1177 with Lord Rosse's 72-inch, so it surprises me a bit that he did not check Swift's observation more closely with the NGC. Whatever happened, the identity is sure. See NGC 1177 for more on this field. ===== IC 282 = NGC 1198. Swift's RA is just -1 minute of time out. Otherwise, the position is good, and his description fits. ===== IC 286 is lost, though perhaps not permanently. Bigourdan found it while searching for NGC 1202 (which see, and which is about 24 seconds of time preceding Ormond Stone's discovery position for it), but gave it only an estimated offset from a star at 03 01 54, -06 39 (1950). Unfortunately, there is no star at that nominal position. Bigourdan notes the star at 43 seconds preceding and half an arcminute south of a star he called BD -7 545. This is 10 seconds following Bigourdan's nominal position, and there is still nothing there. I also checked at 43 seconds following the BD star -- nothing. In his description of NGC 1202 (which he claims to have seen, but did not measure because of its faintness), Bigourdan describes the field around the BD star: "It [NGC 1202] is situated at PA = 175 deg, d = 2.5-3 arcmin with respect to the star BD -7 545. This star, magnitude 9.0, has a companion 12-12.5 toward PA = 125 deg, distance 1 arcmin." This precise description of the field does not match what we see on the sky around the star, so I am almost certain that Bigourdan misidentified some other star as the BD star. A search for several degrees around BD -7 545 fails to turn up any other star of similar brightness with companions in the relative places Bigourdan gives. So, I've been unable so far to recover the objects which he took for NGC 1202 and IC 286. My earlier conjecture that IC 286 = NGC 1202 was based purely on the fact that Bigourdan's nominal position for I286 is 15 seconds of time away from NGC 1202. Given the problems with the comparison stars, that conjecture is clearly wrong. There are couple of things still to check. For example, did Bigourdan by mistake look at BD +7 545, or BD -7 454? Until we've covered those possibilities, it may be premature to declare IC 286 "Not found." By the way, IC 286 is not NGC 1202 as I supposed in SEGC. Bigourdan saw the two of them, or thought he did, on the same night, 14 December 1890. ===== IC 290 = IC 1884. IC 290 was found near Algol by Swift on 11 September 1888 along with several other galaxies. His positions are not particularly good, so Barnard thought that he discovered the group when he was working in the area sometime later. He did not publish his observations, but sent them directly to Dreyer. Fortunately, his positions are good in this case, so we don't need to appeal to the original observations for verification. The other galaxies involved are IC 1883 = NGC 1213 (also found by Swift, but in October of 1884), I292 = I1887, I293 = I1888, and I294 = I1889. I295 and I296 are also supposed to be in the area, but are not. See them for some speculation. ===== IC 292 = IC 1887, IC 293 = IC 1888, and IC 294 = IC 1889. As I noted above for IC 290 = IC 1884, Swift's positions for most of these are poor enough that Barnard was misled into thinking that he had discovered a new group of nebulae near Algol. Also see NGC 1213 = IC 1883 (the fifth galaxy in the group) for more. (Swift has two additional nebulae here, IC 295 and IC 296, neither of which exist as separate galaxies. See their notes, too.) ===== IC 293 = IC 1888. See IC 290 and IC 292. ===== IC 294 = IC 296 = IC 1889. Gary Kronk has been working through Swift's lists of nebulae for his forthcoming book on Swift (published late in 2017, the book is now available). He recently (March 2017) asked about three of the nebulae announced in Swift's 8th list in AN 122, 241, 1889 (whole number 2918), numbers 30-32. These turn out to be NGC 1270 (#30) and NGC 1277 (#32), both of which see, and NPM1G +41.0110 (#31; see NGC 1277 for a brief discussion). Clearing up these identifications entailed collecting all the nebulae found by Swift on the nights of 11 and 14 September 1888 to test for systematic offsets in RA and Dec. Swift's positions measured on the night of the 11th have just such an offset of -5 +- 2 seconds of time in RA, and -0.2 +- 0.1 arcminutes in Dec. IC 294 and IC 295 were found on this night; applying the correction has moved IC 294 to within less than an arcminute of Swift's position for IC 296 (found just three nights later on the 14th). Both observations thus point at the same galaxy that later picked up yet another IC number, 1889 (which also see). The identification is strengthened by Swift's note about the "F D * nr p". The double, though relatively wide with a separation of about forty arcseconds, is there. Also see IC 290 and IC 292. ===== IC 295 is probably lost. It is supposed to be in a group of nebulae found by Swift near Algol (see IC 290 for more). In particular, it was found on 11 September 1888, the same night as I292-294. But there is no trace of it in the area, and Barnard found only five galaxies here when he went over it later, while Swift claims a total of seven (N1213, I290, and I292-296). ----- While IC 296 is clearly shown to be identical with IC 294 = IC 1889 (see the discussion under IC 294 where the impetus for reexamining this field is explained) by considering the systematic offset in Swift's positions on 11 September, IC 295 remains stubbornly evasive. It could be the star about 1.3 arcminutes wnw of IC 294 -- its position relative to IC 294 is about right -- or perhaps the fainter asterism the same distance wsw of IC 294. In that case, however, the relative declinations would be incorrect. I've put both of these possibilities into the position table. The possibility also remains that it is identical to IC 294. This is still the least likely solution as Swift claims to have seen both galaxies on the same night. Finally, I should mention that I may have reversed the identifications of IC 294 and IC 295. I've made IC 295 the western object while Swift made it the eastern of the two. On the other hand, with IC 296 -- which Swift put east of IC 295 though on a different night -- being clearly identical to IC 294 ... well, the situation for IC 295 remains pretty murky. ===== IC 296 = IC 294 = IC 1889. See the discussion under IC 294, and see IC 295 for one of Swift's "novae" that is still inexplicable. ===== IC 297 is probably one of the two double stars that I've listed in the table. Swift found it on 15 Sept 1888, and called it "eeeF, pS, R; 4 sts in line s; F * p close sp [sic]; eee dif." Swift's note as printed is not very clear about the star to the west or southwest. Dreyer took it to mean southwest. The line of four stars is unmistakeable at 03 09 48, +41 52.0 (1950), but there are two candidate double stars to the north. The eastern of the two doubles more or less matches Swift's note with a faint star to the southwest, while the western double has TWO stars southwest and one southeast. So, while that western double is brighter, the field matches the eastern better. There are, by the way, no galaxies in the area with stars matching Swift's note. In particular, the line of four stars is just where Swift places it with respect to his nominal position -- but there is no galaxy there. My earlier guess at the identification was a much fainter double star much closer to Swift's position. But this double, I recognize now (Feb 2005) is much too faint for Swift to have seen. You can see it yourself, though, on the DSS at 03 09 58.5, +41 55 37 (1950). ===== IC 298 is one of the rare and remarkable "ring galaxies", a pair consisting of a relatively normal S0 galaxy and a neighboring patchy, knotty ring of stars. The generally-accepted hypothesis is that these things are the result of a collision between two galaxies at a very particular angle, nearly -- if not exactly -- face-on. This accounts for the rarity of the objects. Only a couple of dozen are known with redshifts less than 0.05. For this particular object, Javelle noted that "one nebulosity envelopes two small bright points," so he almost certainly saw both objects, though could not see the annular nature of the western galaxy. The position in the table for the western object refers to the approximate center of the ring. I wonder, too, if his observation included the faint star to the southeast. His estimated diameter is 1 arcmin; the star would be easily included in such a large "object". ===== IC 300. Swift's position is OK, but his description should read "bet 2 sts 9, np and sf" instead of "* 9 sp." Am I seeing the same object that he did? If not, there is a large error in his position, and we need to keep looking for his object. ----- Steve Gottlieb did just that and suggests UGC 2590 just one minute of time west of Swift's nominal position. The only problem, as Steve points out, is that the star to the southwest -- HD 19736 -- is at V = 6.1 rather than the V = 8 that Swift has in his 8th list. I also noticed that Dreyer changed this to V = 9 in the IC; is this a mistake, or did Swift suggest the change? In any case, UGC 2590 is a good candidate, so I've added that to the position table with a colon. The previous candidate for IC 300 -- which is 2MASX J03141604+4224550 -- being a magnitude fainter than the UGC galaxy, collects a question mark. ===== IC 308 is a member of the Perseus Cluster, found by Lewis Swift in September 1888 along with about 15 other cluster members, and a few asterisms, too. For some reason now lost to memory, I noted two other galaxies near IC 308 that Swift did not see. The brighter of these ("comp1") has a redshift indicating that it, too, is a Perseus Cluster member. I expect that the fainter object is a member of the cluster as well, but the redshift for it is not yet known (September 2013). ===== IC 312 = NGC 1265, which see. ===== IC 314 = NGC 1289. Bigourdan notes for NGC 1289 in his big table, "This nebula, 11 sec following the position given in the NGC, was published as new (140 Big.)." The identify with N1289 is therefore certain. ===== IC 316 is an interacting pair. While there is no evidence that Swift saw both galaxies, they are close enough (the nuclei are separated by just 12 arcsec) that it is reasonable to label the two galaxies north and south components of IC 316. ===== IC 319 is a star. There is a faint galaxy 45 arcsec south preceding that has been mistaken (by me, among others) as IC 319. However, Bigourdan's two micrometric measures of his nova (= Big 141) point precisely at the star. Furthermore, his description of the surrounding star field is exactly matched if the star is his reference object -- but not if the galaxy is the reference object. Malcolm Thomson has also pointed out that the galaxy is probably too faint to have been seen by Bigourdan. In fact, there is another galaxy near a wide double star that Bigourdan measured in this field. This second galaxy is brighter and larger than the first, and Bigourdan makes no mention of the second. I presume that he did not see it, either. ===== IC 322. Some of the positions from the digital surveys may be slightly affected by the star superposed on the eastern side of the galaxy. However, the average surface brightness of the galaxy is relatively low, so it may not be a problem, especially in the J-band. Thus, Brian has chosen the 2MASS position as a reasonable representation of the true position of the nucleus. ===== IC 323 is a triple star very close to Swift's position. He notes this as the "preceding of 2", the second being a rediscovery of NGC 1334 (not included in the IC by Dreyer). Swift's position for that is very good, too, so the identity of I323 with the triple is nearly certain. I've been collecting positions for many of the individual stars in these asterisms from the big digitized catalogues from various sky surveys. These include UCAC4, 2MASS, GSC 2.2, and USNO-B1.0 (as well as a few others like APM North, GSC-ACT, and -- for brighter objects -- Tycho-2, AC 2000.2, Carlsberg Meridian, and PPMXL) . In general, I've found that UCAC4, 2MASS, and GSC 2.2 yeild very consistent positions for the stars, while USNO-B1.0 sometimes shows small systematic offsets with respect to the others. This has led to my preference for UCAC4, 2MASS, and GSC 2.2, in no particular order -- though my optical background biases me toward UCAC4, while my close association with the 2MASS team for many years at IPAC (Caltech) has given me an appreciation of just how good the astrometry in their near-infrared sky survey really is. Looking through the positions that Brian has chosen as representative of the objects suggests that he, too, has the same preferences. ===== IC 324 = NGC 1331 is the fainter of two nebulae here discovered by WH (the brighter is N1332). His place for N1331 is poor, however, and falls coincidentally near a vF wisp that he could not have seen. The RNGC unfortunately identifies the wisp as N1331=I324. The galaxy that Herschel actually saw was correctly measured at Leander McCormick and by Bigourdan, though Bigourdan did not accept the identify with N1331 and published the galaxy as new (Big 142). Dreyer (M.N. 73, 37, 1912) makes the identity clear, but recommends dropping the number NGC 1331 in favor of IC 324. However, since the NGC number has been in general use for many years (e.g., in the Mt. Wilson and Helwan lists, in RC1 and 2, etc.), I have retained it here. ===== IC 333 does not exist. It was only suspected by Bigourdan, and observed by him just once. There is nothing in his measured position east-southeast of N1358 (which he also saw), so this, like IC 67 and IC 68, was probably one of his "fausse images". ===== IC 335 = IC 1963, which see. ===== IC 336, IC 341, IC 353, IC 354, and IC 360. These eF diffuse nebulae were identified by reference to Barnard's drawing in A.N. 3253, and to his drawing and photograph in M.N. 57, 12, 1896. Barnard's sketches are more or less confirmed by PSS plates O and E441 and O and E31. Curiously, Dreyer did not include all of the patches of nebulosity shown by Barnard, and those that he did list in the IC are not necessarily the brightest, even as shown on Barnard's sketchs. With the possible exceptions of I353 and I354, these nebulae are probably not associated with the Pleiades, but appear more likely to be Galactic reflecting nebulae (see, for example, Allan Sandage's article in AJ 81, 954, 1976 for more on these fascinating objects). Note also that the IC position of IC 360 (which also see) is 5m in error. ----- Here is a bit of explanation for that last sentence of the previous paragraph which, in retrospect, is not quite right (I repeat this in the note for IC 360, below). The position I now (October 2013) estimate on the DSS (first survey, blue plate) is 04 07.8 +25 36 (B1950), while Dreyer's 1860 position in the IC precesses to 04 11.5 +25 54 (B1950), about 4 minutes off in RA and 0.3 degrees in Dec. Careful reading of Barnard's sketch in AN 3253 shows the nebula to be just a little less than a degree south, and perhaps a bit east, of 44 Tau. I put the position on the chart at 04 08.2 +25 32 (B1950), not significantly different than what I see on the DSS1 blue plate. Dreyer's 1860 position is clearly off, and can now be confidently discarded. This nebula, by the way, shows up on DSS images almost better as a patch of dust obscuring stars behind it, than it does as "bright" nebula overlaid on the same stars. ===== IC 337. Swift's position does not match anything in the area. The object in the table is certainly bright enough to have been picked up by Swift, but its position is well off in both RA and Dec. MCG -01-10-009 is about 1.2 minutes preceding the nominal position, and only a couple of arcmin off in Dec, but it has such a low surface brightness that I doubt that Swift could have seen it. Also, he mentions that the galaxy forms a "trapezium with three stars." None of the galaxies in the area fit this description. So, yet another mystery. ===== IC 339. Found by Ormond Stone, this is claimed to be -2m 48.79s, +0arcmin 32.1arcsec from a star at 03 35 57.29 -18 45 02.2 (1890.0, or 03 38 39.67, -18 33 20.8 for 1950.0). Doing the math for the equinox of 1890 yeilds the position (precessed to B1950.0) in the big table. For many years, I took this to be the star, now flagged as very questionable, cited in the table. I do not now (September 2013) believe that this is the correct object simply because the V magnitude of this star is 11.9 while Stone gave his object a magnitude of 15.5; the star's position is well over an arcminute different from Stone's as well. While the rest of his description (diameter 0.1 arcmin, "StellN" [stellar nucleus]) could be that of a star seen on a relatively poor night, neither the magnitude nor the position matches that of the star. Stone's position, by the way, rests on eight measurements of RA and two of Dec, with no indication that either coordinate is uncertain. If I had to guess, I would say that Stone has misidentified his comparison star. It is a bit more difficult checking for this sort of mistake online than with a paper or film copy of the Sky Survey, but I haven't yet found any reasonable star/nebula pairs in the vicinity that match the offsets that Stone gives. I also checked to see if the signs of his offsets are reversed -- there is nothing at the position that reversed signs imply. Nor did checking other nebulae measured on the same night yield any clues (only one galaxy, NGC 1426 measured by Frank Muller, comes from that same night in 1887). Similarly, the other objects using the same comparison star either have their positions measured correctly (NGC 1391, NGC 1393, and IC 343), or they have the same problem that IC 339 does -- missing on the sky (the first observation for IC 346 [which see], labeled number "151" in Stone's table). And again, a mystery. ===== IC 341. See IC 336. ===== IC 345 may be identical with Stone's object number 151 in the first volume of the Leander McCormick Publications. See IC 346 for more. ===== IC 346 has three observations, one by Frank Muller (on 21 Oct 1887, called number 171 in the first volume of Leander McCormick Publications), the second by Ormond Stone (on 21 Sept 1889 -- though I suggest another year below -- called 151 in the same list), and a final one by Lewis Swift (on 5 Oct 1896, number 60 in his 11th list in AN 3517). Dreyer put number 151 into the 1st IC as IC 346, but somehow missed number 171. In the Notes to IC2, he says this about IC 346: "The place and description should be 03h 35m 26s, 108d 43.0', eF, pL, E 80d, dif (my mistake). Is no doubt identical with Sw. XI. 60: 03h 35m 13s, 108d 39.8'." Dreyer is certainly right about the equality of Swift's and Muller's nebulae. The position and description from both of their observations is also correct, while there is nothing at Stone's position. I'm puzzled, though, by Dreyer's parenthetical comment, "my mistake". How did he know he made a mistake? Perhaps Stone or Muller wrote to him? A search of his correspondence, if it still exists, could clear this up. But this also leaves us with the question of Stone's observation. There is certainly nothing near his place, and I wonder if the date of his observation is correctly given in the list. The printed date is "[18]89.724"; I have a suspicion, based on Stone's use of the same comparison star that he claimed to have used for the missing IC 339 (which see), that the date might be "87.724", the same night he observed IC 339. If this speculation is true, then Stone may have used the same misidentified comparison star for both observations. Ignoring the date for the moment, I searched the area in and around the NGC 1407 group for a star-galaxy pair that Stone might have seen. If his data for number 151 refer to IC 345 (rather than IC 346), then his comparison star could well be UCAC4 359-004084. The declination difference would be about 10 arcseconds too small with this star, but that may be within the realm of Stone's usual errors. Summing up, we will take Dreyer at his IC2 word and assign the number IC 346 to Muller and Swift's galaxy. That leaves us with Stone's observation reported in IC1; I've called this "IC 346.1" in the big table where I suggest again that it just might be IC 345 measured with the misidentified comparison star. Also see IC 2090 for another missing object where IC 346 plays a small role. ----- Finally, I thank Courtney Seligman for bringing this to my attention in March of 2013. Courtney suggests that the star nearest Stone's position for number 151 might be the object intended. In its favor, this suggestion agrees with Stone's estimated magnitude ("14.") and size ("0.1" arcmin). So, while this is certainly a possibility, I'm still skeptical that this is will prove correct because the position is far enough off the star to make the identity doubtful -- Stone claims twelve comparisons in RA and four in declination; he should have done better with that many observations. (The star's proper motion is small, too -- 2.0 milliarcseconds per year in RA, and -6.7 mas/yr in Dec. These would contribute very little to an offset (0.22 and 0.74 arcsec) between the modern position precessed back to Stone's observation epoch, and Stone's own position reduced from the modern data for his comparison star). However, it is as good a suggestion as any, so I've listed the star in the table. Please read Courtney's analysis of the situation, too, at http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ic3.htm#ic346 . He may be able to convince you where he has only suggested a possible solution to me. Whatever happened, there are question marks galore for this observation of Stone's. ===== IC 348 = IC 1985, which see. Dreyer put this into the first IC apparently without seeing Safford's footnote which reads, "A loose cluster with nebula." All that appears in the IC description is Safford's "vL, vgbM, pB" rearranged into the usual brightness-size-concentration order. Whatever happened, Safford is right -- there is a cluster associated with this nebulosity. Barnard did not mention the cluster, either, in his discovery note for IC 1985, though he examined the object both photographically and visually with the Yerkes 40-inch. ===== IC 349 is a knot in the Merope nebula about 36 arcsec away from the star. For many years, I had thought it equal to NGC 1435 (which see), but that is the much larger and fainter nebulosity stretching 10 to 15 arcmin south of Merope. Like the larger nebula, IC 349 is a reflection nebula. It is, in fact, the brightest part of the nebulosity around the Pleiades, but is difficult to see because of the proximity to the star. In his discovery note in AN 3018, Barnard has micrometric measurements of IC 349 with respect to Merope. It is from those that I have reduced the position given in the table. The bright glare around Merope is so intense that IC 349 is difficult to photograph. Nevertheless, it has been done with some regularity over the years. Herbig has the full story in AJ 111, 1241, 1996 (with a follow up by Theodore Simon et al. in AJ 121, 3138, 2001 where they have a color HST image of the nebula). When I was observing regularly, I didn't know enough to look for IC 349 as a "separate" object, or I might have done so. It will certainly be challenging for any observer who does go after it. ===== IC 353. See IC 336. ===== IC 354. See IC 336. ===== IC 359. The 1m error in Swift's RA has led to considerable confusion concerning the identity of this object. The diffuse nebula referred to by Lynds and Cederblad is about 1/2 a degree northeast of the IC object, and Hubble's (ApJ 56, 400, 1922) questioned identification is also incorrect. ----- This was actually found by Swift on 20 August 1885 and published as a "nova" in his second list -- where it is number 29 -- in AN 2707. However, he includes an extensive note that reads Resembles a Comet [sic]. Moonlight and clouds prevented verification until Sept. 6, when it could not be found. Am certain of its place, and of its configuration with 4 stars. Have examined the place three times and am certain of its absence. Seeing on one occasion as good as when discovered. In the introductory comments to the second list, Swift also says, "No. 19 [of Swift's list 1 in AN 2683] must therefore be struck out, and with great probability No. 29 of this Catalogue also." Dreyer took him at his word and did not include either object in the NGC. In the case of the 19th object in list 1, this was the correct decision (there is nothing in that position), but Swift went on to recover this galaxy on Christmas Day in 1891. However, his description then reads, "eeF, pL, R. Not no. 29 cat. 2. That is still missing." Given that his position in list 10 is one minute of time too large, the identity of Swift's two objects is pretty certain. ===== IC 360. See IC 336 for a lead in to the next paragraph, also paraphrased there. The position I now (October 2013) estimate on the DSS (first survey, blue plate) is 04 07.8 +25 36 (B1950), while Dreyer's 1860 position in the IC precesses to 04 11.5 +25 54 (B1950), about 4 minutes off in RA and 0.3 degrees in Dec. Careful reading of Barnard's sketch in AN 3253 shows the nebula to be just a little less than a degree south, and perhaps a bit east, of 44 Tau. I put the position on the chart at 04 08.2 +25 32 (B1950), not significantly different than what I see on the DSS1 blue plate. Dreyer's 1860 position is clearly off, and can now be confidently discarded. This nebula, by the way, shows up on DSS images almost better as a patch of dust obscuring stars behind it, than it does as "bright" nebula overlaid on the same stars. ===== IC 371 is a star. Bigourdan also mistook another nearby star to be NGC 1586 (d'Arrest's position quoted in the NGC is bad). Bigourdan's micrometrically measured positions (from 2 nights) are exact and refer unambiguously to the stars. ===== IC 376 is a fainter galaxy about 1.5 arcmin northwest of IC 377, which see. It is mentioned, though not identified, in the MCG note for I377. ===== IC 377. MCG has labeled this "IC 376-7". Unfortunately, only the first -- incorrect -- number has stuck on the galaxy. That number actually belongs to the fainter companion 1.5 arcmin to the northwest, while only I377 applies to MCG -02-12-031. ===== IC 381. This galaxy has been called "NGC 1530A" since Philip Keenan's 1935 paper discussing magnitudes of galaxies. Unfortunately, his position is far enough from the IC position that this name crept into RC1. Even though the RC1 notes suggested the identity with IC 381, we've been stuck with the suffixed NGC number ever since. There are other errors in Keenan's identifications; perhaps the most egregious is the object he calls "NGC 4250A". This is actually none other than NGC 4250 itself! ===== IC 382. This may possibly be NGC 1632, but that is more likely identical to IC 386, which see. ===== IC 386 is probably = NGC 1632. Note the possible confusion here over the identity of N1632 -- its quoted position falls between IC 382 and IC 386. The RNGC (probably incorrectly) chooses I382, the larger and brighter galaxy, as N1632, but does not mentioned the IC number. The NGC position, however, is closer to I386 and the descriptions (through similar size refractors) are the same. So, somewhat cautiously, I am going to adopt that identity. ===== IC 388 is at least a double galaxy and may include three foreground stars as well. Javelle described it as a "Very faint nebulosity, very diffuse, surrounding a small [faint] star." His position is somewhat closer to the eastern galaxy, but is well north of the pair, so we do not know which object he saw as the faint star. ----- Javelle's declination is the same as the northern star superposed on the pair, but his RA is about 5 arcseconds to the east. This is getting within range of his typical statistical error. His description reads "Very faint nebulosity, very diffuse, surrounding a small star." The northern star, however, is the faintest of the three near the two galaxies, so I find it unlikely that he saw this star and not one of the others. Perhaps he mistook one of the galaxies as a star. Whatever happened, we still do not know exactly what he saw the night of 28 January 1892, aside from a "fuzzy splodge" (what a colleague involved with QSOs once called the galaxies I was studying!). ===== IC 394 does not exist. Though suspected twice near N1667 by Bigourdan, he noted it the second time in January 1901 as "Object only glimpsed and whose existence is not very certain." His first observation in December 1888 is not much more informative in spite of being considerably longer: At the indicated position [-15.6s, -2'15" from BD -06 995] I suspect a very diffuse nebula, maybe pretty extended, extremely faint, and very close to the extreme limit of visibility. This object could be formed by a few very faint and pretty scattered stars. There is, in fact, nothing in the area, not even faint stars. The position is about half way between NGC 1667 and BD -06 995 in a void. The three nearest stars are about an arcminute west and form a north-south line about two arcminutes long. I don't see how they could be made into the object Bigourdan describes, so this is almost certainly one of his "fausse images". ===== IC 395 may also be NGC 1671, which see for more. ===== IC 397. I had this to say about IC 397 years ago: Observed twice by Spitaler, but there is only an eF * near his position that he could not have seen. Another case of a misidentified comparison star, perhaps? This makes no sense to me now (Sept 2013) as Spitaler's position is about 20 arcsec north of a line of 4 stars, the northern-most a double. His measurements may refer to this asterism with an error of about 0.7 seconds of time and 20+- arcseconds in his observations or reductions. Alternatively, there is another somewhat brighter and larger asterism just 20 seconds of time preceding and 3 arcsec north of Spitaler's position. This, too, is a possibility with a measurement or reduction error. I also checked that reversing the signs on Spitaler's offsets yeilded no nebulae or asterisms that he might have seen. So which error do you like the most? I've included positions for all these stars -- and the two mean positions -- in the big position table. At the moment, I'm not inclined to choose between these two possibilities. And there may well be others that I've not considered yet. Whatever happened, there is nothing obvious in the field, or in Spitaler's published measurements, that could lead us to the object he saw. ===== IC 400. Stone measured only the RA of this object, so the IC NPD is marked uncertain. In principle, the RA ought to be very good, as it was measured four times using a chronometer. Unfortunately, there is nothing at the derived RA anywhere near the nominal declination. Two seconds following, there is a faint late-type spindle, though it does not match the sparse description (m = 16.0, diameter = 0.1 arcmin) well. I also have my doubts whether the spindle could be seen visually, even with the 26-inch: its surface brightness is pretty low. There is also a transcription error in the Leander McCormick list. The comparison star is called "CCO 228" at "04 55 03.54, -15 55 03.3" for 1890.0. Checking through the table, I noticed that CCO 228's declination is given differently in the observation for NGC 1730 (obs. no. 208): "-15 57 47.3". The declination of CCO 225 (in another observation of N1730, No. 203) is the same as that for the declination given for the comparison star of IC 400 (obs. no. 209), while the RA is different. So, which star did Stone use as a comparison for his new nebula? Since he used CCO 225 (which is SAO 150054) only for the one observation of N1730 on a different night than he found IC 400, it is most likely that the correct star is CCO 228 (SAO 150066). This makes the RA of the spindle close to the measured RA -- but it is still far enough off to bother me. Is there significant proper motion for the star? Perhaps it has moved enough in the interval between early 1889 when Stone observed it, and 1950 -- the SAO epoch and equinox -- that it could account for the difference in RA. The spindle has a faint companion about 20 arcsec southwest with a brighter star superposed. Is it possible that the combined image is actually Stone's object? It would be closer to his position than the spindle, but still a full second of time off. Finally, Wolfgang chose a star for IC 400. I'm not convinced by this, either. At the moment, I'm not willing to say which object -- if any -- is IC 400. There are just too many puzzles here. ===== IC 403 is a triple star -- the southern of which is very faint -- just south of Spitaler's position. He measured it twice with respect to different stars; the two resulting positions agree to within 1.5 arcsec using modern positions and proper motions for his comparison stars. He also verified the object on two other nights, so there is no doubt about the identification. ===== IC 405 is a very large diffuse nebula found by Schaeberle (PASP 4, 85, 1892) on plates taken with the "Willard" lens (6-inch aperture, 31-inch focal length; Barnard used the lens extensively, and discusses its history and characteristics in Lick Obs. Publ., Vol. 11, 1913). In his note, Schaeberle mentions four plates, the first on 27 February 1892 and three more on 21, 24, and 25 March 1892. His detailed description of the nebula matches that shown on the DSS blue plates. Wolf (AN 131, 157, 1892) confirmed the existence of the nebula on plates taken on 25 and 30 September of the same year. Dreyer adopted Wolf's position for BD +34 980 (= HD 34078), but the nebula is actually centered north and east of the star. The position I adopt is for the apparent center of the brighter portion of the nebula on the red DSS2 plate. There, that brightest section is about 40' x 30' across, while the maximum extent is over a degree in the east-west direction. ===== IC 406 is a line of three stars with a fourth just to the east of the northern most in the line. Spitaler's position, re-reduced from the modern position for his comparison star, is spot-on. He verified it on a second night, and suspected that it might be a small, nebulous cluster. ===== IC 408 and IC 411 are two of four galaxies found by Swift during a February 1889 visit in California. Here is what he has to say about them: During an almost momentary use of the 12 inch at Lick Observatory, I detected four nebulae in one field. In response to my query if he could see them, Prof. Barnard replied that he could see six. He gave me the places of two of mine nos. 38-9 [IC 408 and IC 411]. Arriving home too late and the weather being unfavorable, I was unable to get positions of the other two as I expected. Barnard's position for IC 411 is pretty good, but that for IC 408 is in an empty field. We have Swift's description of it, however: "vF, pS, E; 5' n of 8 1/2 mag star." This makes it tempting to equate the number with IC 2121 (which see; found later by both Howe and Swift) which has a bright star to the southwest. But the position is nearly 2 minutes of time east of that given by Barnard, the star (VX Leporis) is only 3 arcmin southwest, and its V magnitude is 7.0 (correctly estimated by Swift when he found IC 2121 in December of 1897). So, either Barnard has made some mistake in the position for the object, or Swift in transcribing it. Given that the double star in the table that might be IC 408 is about five arcminutes north of HD 34690 (V = 7.5), this may be one of the objects that Swift and Barnard saw. I've put question marks on it to indicate my uncertainty with this notion. By the way, the six brightest galaxies in the area are (positions for B1950 picked quickly1 off a SkyView image by me; other data come primarily from ESO-LV via NED): Name RA (1950) Dec B_T D 25 d RA (2000) Dec ESO 486- G051 05 17 15 -25 32.3 15.5 1.3 0.3 05 19 17 -25 29.0 ESO 486- G052 05 17 35 -24 56.7 15.0 0.9 0.7 05 19 38 -24 53.6 IC 2121 05 17 42 -25 06.9 13.8 1.7 1.0 05 19 45 -25 03.9 IC 411 05 18 16 -25 22.6 14.1 1.3 0.9 05 20 17 -25 19.4 2MASX J05202533-2513528 05 18 22 -25 17.0 15.4: 0.8: 0.6: 05 20 25 -25 14.1 ESO 486- G059 05 18 48 -25 13.7 15.6 0.9 0.3 05 20 50 -25 10.6 (Two others in the field, very close to IC 2121 are AM 0517-250n 05 17 46 -25 09.2 16.5: 0.2: 0.2: 05 19 49 -25 06.2 AM 0517-250s 05 17 46 -25 09.5 16.5 0.3 0.2 05 19 49 -25 06.5 These, however, are quite faint and even closer to -- and nearly straight east from -- VX Lep than I2121. My guess is that these do not play a role in this story.) Were these the six seen by Barnard? And which four were seen by Swift in 1889? The two IC objects are clearly the ones that any reasonable observer would pick out, but which of the others might Swift have seen? Here is a case where visual observations with modern telescopes would help. And how does the double star appear in a good eyepiece? ----- Looking at the field again in February 2018, I noted that Swift claimed that his four nebulae, and Barnard's six, are "in one field". Swift does not tell how big that field was, but if it was about the field diameter that Swift usually used -- 32-arcminutes -- and centered between IC 411 and IC 2121, then the first two galaxies in the speculative list above are excluded. It looks to me as if the four remaining objects in the table, plus the AM pair, are the brightest here. In any case, I am reasonably convinced now that IC 408 is actually identical to IC 2121, so I have changed the position table to reflect that -- with all the appropriate colons and question marks, of course. ===== IC 409. Javelle noted that this may have a double nucleus; it is, in fact, an interacting double galaxy, with the northern of the pair being the brighter. Javelle's position falls on this northern object, perhaps by accident. ===== IC 410 is a nebulosity found by Max Wolf in which is embedded the cluster NGC 1893, found by JH. While Wolf noted stars in his nebula, JH apparently did not see the nebula at all. Therefore, the common practice of equating the two objects is incorrect. This was pointed out by Brent in "Star Clusters" and by Wolfgang in an email. I've fixed the position tables accordingly. ===== IC 411. See IC 408. ===== IC 412 = IC 2123 and IC 413 = IC 2124 were discovered by Javelle and also by Barnard -- twice. While Javelle published his observations, Barnard apparently sent his directly to Dreyer. The positions and descriptions are close enough that one or the other of them should have become suspicious about the identities. But that was left until the CGCG folks ran across these fifty years later. Different words describe this same situation under IC 2123. If curiosity overwhelms you, go see that number, too. ===== IC 413 = IC 2124. See IC 412 = IC 2123. ===== IC 419, IC 425, and IC 439 were all found by Wolf on a Heidelberg plate (see AN 131, 157, 1892 = AN 3130). IC 419 is only a line of 4 stars about 1' long (and matches Wolf's description in this respect). IC 425 and IC 439 are probably defects on the Heidelberg plate as no nebulae matching Wolf's descriptions are in this area of the sky. ===== IC 420, 421, 423, 424, 426-428, 430-432, 434, and 435 were all discovered by Williamina Fleming on Harvard plates taken in the late 1880s. See IC 434 for more. ===== IC 421. Fleming's declination for this is 10 arcminutes too far south, but her RA is about right, as is her description: "Faint nebulosity about 2' in diameter." She found the galaxy on one plate and confirmed it on a second. This is the only galaxy in her list of 27 nebulae found on several Harvard plates of the vicinity of the Orion Nebula. See IC 434 for more on the area. ===== IC 422 = IC 2131, which see. ===== IC 423. See IC 434. ===== IC 424. See IC 434. ===== IC 425 does not exist. Wolf says of it in AN 131, 157, 1892 (AN 3130): A very broad diffuse nebula, extending at least 30 'in dec and 20' in RA, surrounds the area [alpha] = 5h 28m [delta] = +32d 20' [equinox B1855.0] It is fainter than the previous one [IC 410]. As there is nothing on any of the DSS images at his position, this is almost certainly a defect on his original plate. See IC 419 for brief additional notes. ===== IC 426, found by Fleming on a Harvard plate, has four nearby patches of nebulosity associated with it. One is attached to the southeast; the others are 7 to 10 arcminutes away in the same direction. All are more easily visible on the DSS blue plates than on the red plates. See IC 434 for more. ===== IC 427. Fleming says of this, "A large patch of faint nebulosity, probably connected with [the Great Nebula in Orion]. [NGC] 1999 is near here, but the description given is unlike that of this object." NGC 1999 = H IV 33 is a "* 10, 11 in neb" at its place about 5-6 arcmin south-southeast of the center of IC 427. It must have appeared as a simple star on the Harvard plate. IC 427 itself is about 10 arcminutes across, but is immersed in a much larger nebula roughly 25' x 20' that also includes NGC 1999, and is connected to IC 428. See IC 434 for a bit more on this area and the IC nebulae here. ===== IC 428. See IC 434. ===== IC 429, a small cometary nebula found by Javelle, is indeed involved in IC 430 (which see) as supposed by Dreyer. Javelle actually saw and measured only the "head" of the nebula, while the fainter "tail" stretches off about an arcminute to the southeast; IC 430 picks up from there, extending another 10+- arcminutes to HD 37507 = d Ori. This is reasonable, recalling that Javelle was observing with a 30-inch F23 refractor. The fainter nebula would show up on photographs, but not at the eyepiece of an F23 telescope. Modern identifications of this nebula include PP37, V883 Ori, and Haro 4-13a (my thanks to Dave Riddle for this information). It is part of the star formation complex around the Orion Nebula (M 42 = NGC 1976). ===== IC 430, discovered photographically by Williamina Fleming on two of four plates covering the region of the Orion Nebula and reported by Pickering in Harvard Annals 18, No. 6, 1890, is just where Fleming puts it. She describes it as a "Nebulous band 3' wide extending 10' north preceding from DM -7 1142. Probably connected with No. 12 through No. 15." These are NGC 1976, IC 426, and IC 427; "13" is a defect. Also see IC 429 and IC 434. ===== IC 431. See IC 434. ===== IC 432. See IC 434. ===== IC 434 is the diffuse emission nebula against which the Horsehead Nebula is superposed. Brian Skiff and I have simply taken the approximate center of the Horsehead itself as the position of the entire nebula. Even though Dreyer gives Pickering credit for discovering this nebulosity and eleven others in the Orion area: IC 420, 421, 423, 424, 426-428, 430-432, and 435, Steve Waldee and Martha Hazen point out (in PASP 102, 1337, 1990) that all of these were actually found by Williamina Fleming. I suspect that Dreyer simply used Pickering's name as the author of the paper describing the discovery. But -- speculation now -- this could well be a manifestation of the pervasive bias, perhaps so deeply embedded as to be unconcious, against women in the sciences in Dreyer's day. Times were different, then. ----- Reading this again in June 2018, I think it fair to point out that Dreyer did the same thing with Brother Ferrari's discovery of nebulae at the Collegio Romano (NGC 7667, etc), crediting them in the NGC to Father Secchi who published the paper announcing their discovery. Adopting the name of the paper's authors -- who just happened to be the observatory directors -- may have simply been a matter of acknowledging the hierarchy in the institutions, or the seniority of the authors themselves. Another possibility is that papers by junior observing staff were required to be communicated by the senior staff. ----- Whatever happened, Fleming describes the nebula (it is No. 21 in Pickering's paper in the Harvard Annals, Vol. 18, p. 113, 1890) as "A large nebulosity extending nearly south from [zeta] Orionis for about 60'. More intense and well marked on the following side, with a semicircular indentation 5' in diameter 30' south of [zeta]." ----- Correspondence with Steve Waldee during 2013 has led to another note about the discovery of the Horsehead. Some people have suggested that it was actually found by WH. This is not true; WH's comment (see Latusseck, J. Astron. Data 14, 4, 2008 where it is reprinted) "Wonderful black space included in Nebulosities" refers to NGC 2024, not to IC 434. A personal aside: When I was a student at the University of Kansas first learning the formalities of this astronomy business, one of my fellow students noticed that the dark nebula in IC 434 was even more representational of a horse seen tail-end on, looking over his left shoulder at us. The "tail" is the faint whisp of nebulosity stretching east-west in the southern part of the dark patch. My fellow student (who shall go unnamed here) of course called the nebula the "Horse's [Tail] Nebula." I have to admit that this image has stuck in my selective memory all these years, and that I am just enough of a prude in public to disguise the part of the horse's anatomy that my colleague actually referred to. ----- Finally, I want to note that Fleming has listed eight other "nebulae" that she found on at least one plate that she could not confirm on three others. Only one of these is potentially a real nebula, her number 8 at 05 26.0, -01 56 (B1855.0). She describes it as a "Narrow line about 10' long, doubtless a defect of Plate 2312." At her position is the southern end of a much larger nebulosity centered near 05 33 27, -01 50 (J2000); the brightest portion of it is approximately 11.5 x 6.5 arcminutes in extent, and it appears slightly patchy. It's appearance on the DSS plates does not agree well with Fleming's description, so I do not think it is the object she recorded. I also note that she examined four plates of the area, and found this object on only one of them. So, unlike the nebula hosting the Horsehead, this one is almost certainly a defect. (Someday, we'll be able to examine the Harvard plates online to check all these potential defects, but that day is not yet here. June 2018). ===== IC 435. See IC 434. ===== IC 436 is an asterism. Spitaler observed it twice, micrometrically measuring it once, so there is no doubt as to the identity. There are at least six stars in the asterism, perhaps more, but only four are bright enough to add to the fuzzy patch that Spitaler saw. ===== IC 439 does not exist; there is nothing at all on the several DSS plates (aside from stars!) at his position. Wolf's description (from AN 131, 157, 1892), though, is interesting: However, I found the strangest nebula at [alpha] = 5h 47m [delta] = +32d. [equinox B1855.0] It probably stretches almost straight 1[deg] long and 10' wide at a position angle of about 330 = 150 through several stars. The brightest parts of the nebula lie between the two stars: BD +31[deg] 1146 and BD +32[deg] 1130. Between all these extended nebulae [IC 405, 410, 417, 419, 425, and 439; and probably IC 443 and 444 as well] there is probably a connection through much weaker nebulae, at least the plates seem to indicate. See IC 419. ===== IC 442. Discovered on 9 November 1890 by W. F. Denning, this is either a close double galaxy, or a single one with a dark lane crossing its nucleus. I've dug out positions for the northern and southern components, though the one I've chosen to represent the galaxy -- assuming it is a single object -- is a blend from the second Guide Star Catalog. Note that Denning's RA is about 1 minute of time too large. However, given the nearness to the north pole, this amounts to only 1.8 arcmin, so there is no trouble with the identification. All of Denning's new nebulae were found in the north circumpolar part of the sky, typically within ten degrees of the pole. Denning, by the way, was primarily known as an observer of meteors, comets, and other solar system objects, but did turn his attention to nebulae now and then. ===== IC 443. See IC 444. ===== IC 444 and IC 443. Since I wrote about these two last in 2003, I've found Barnard's discovery paper -- it is in "Astronomy and Astro-Physics", Vol. 8, No. 3, page 177, 1894. Note that this is not "Astronomy and Astrophysics", the European journal that appeared in the late 1960s, but is an American journal published for a few years around 1900. My current interest in this was piqued by a Christmas Day 2014, note to the amastro list by David Knisely asking just what IC 444 is. That inspired me to dig out Barnard's paper. Here is what Barnard has to say in a postscript to his paper: Postscript.--On another photograph taken Feb. 1, 1894, with 2h 10m exposure, the 9m.5 star Dm [sic] + 23[deg].1313 is found to be closely nebulous, a very small dense nebulosity gives it a fuzzy appearance. This nebulosity is heaviest south and following. The place of the star for 1885.0 is [alpha] = 6h 11m 35s.8 [delta] = + 23[deg] 19'.3 On this same plate is a faint narrow curved nebulosity in about, 1860.0, [alpha] = 6h 8m [delta] = + 23[deg] 0' It is nearly 1/2[deg] long, extending north and south and convex to the east. The first object that is IC 444, the second is IC 443, a well-known supernova remnant. There are two mistakes here. First, the BD star is actually BD +23[deg] 1301 = 12 Gem. Barnard caught the mistake and corrected it in his Milky Way Atlas where he specifically mentions IC 444. Second, the equinox he gives, 1885.0, should actually be 1855.0 (see the BD itself to confirm this). Checking Barnard's Milky Way Atlas, we find these two nebulae on Plate 9, though Barnard mentions only IC 444 (which he calls "N.G.C. I 444"). Again, he centers the nebula on the star BD +23 1301 = SAO 078225 = HD 43836 = 12 Gem. From all this, we can find what Barnard was referring to in his notes. Wolf is somewhat less precise in his note (from AN 3130, 1892, in a translation by kindly provided by Wolfgang Steinicke): The 2.25-inch Hermagis lens, naturally imaging a larger field than the two bigger lenses, conveniently shows the area near mu and nu Geminorum. There very extended and bright nebulosities can be seen, which, roughly estimated, are centered at [alpha] = 6h 14m [delta] = + 24[deg] and [alpha] = 6h 8m [delta] = + 22[deg] and will be most promising objects. Since the positions (for 1855.0) are quite crude, I assume that Wolf means to include all of the nebulosity. Dreyer was impressed enough by Barnard's more precise position for IC 444 that he adopted it for the IC, but took a mean position for IC 443. I attempted to follow Dreyer pretty strictly when I first looked at the two nebulae in Scotland in the mid-1970's. Those positions are still in the big table. But after Wolfgang asked about the identifications early in 2003, I estimated positions for the entire extent of the objects. Those are in the table, too. Finally, I've added the positions from Wolf's and Barnard's papers to the position table, too. I concluded my answer to David with this paragraph: So what can we glean from all of this? First, the nebulae are so big that it probably doesn't matter much where we put the positions as long as we can be sure that we're talking about the correct objects. Second, the positions are dependent to a certain extent on the wavelength in which the observations are made. All of those that I quote here are in the blue or red part of the spectrum, and may not be similar (or even close!) to those from other parts. Third, IC 444 seems to be the huge reflection nebulosity centered as I've noted near 06 21.1, +23 06 [J2000.0], though if you want to take 12 Gem as the center, I would not object. That seems an appropriate place to end this particular note. ===== IC 446 = IC 2167, which see. ===== IC 447 = IC 2169, which see. Also note that this is not NGC 2245 (which see) in spite of Barnard's note in the Lick Publications, Vol 11, Plate 28. ===== IC 448 was found by Wolf on plate he took on 12 December 1890. The nebula appears completely different on the red and blue Sky Survey plates. Given that the early plates Wolf were using were blue sensitive, I've adopted the position I estimated on the blue DSS1 (where the nebula is also most apparent). Its appearance there also matches Wolf's description better. Here is a pretty free translation from German by me with the help of Apple's Internet translating service: In that area, a new nebula was photographed, at the position [alpha] = 6h 25m, [delta] = +7d 30'. It extends directly northwest from the star 13 Monocerotis. ===== IC 452 = NGC 2296, and IC 453. Bigourdan has NGC 2296 = Big 148; this is wrong -- NGC 2296 = Big 147 = IC 452. His relative positions for the two objects and their neighboring stars are precise, and Big 148 = IC 453 is unambiguously a star. Bigourdan's position for IC 453 as published in Observations, Vol. I is correct, though the IC position (from the CR 107, 647, 1891 list) is 8' in error. Though NGC 2296 looks something like a galaxy on the sky survey plates, it is a small diffuse nebula with an immersed star. It is in a starless patch of sky southeast of Sirius. Clemens and Barvainis, ApJS 68, 257, 1988 have a detection in CO giving a radial velocity of +16.6 km/sec. This confirms the Galactic nature of the object. ===== IC 453 is a star. See IC 452 for the story. ===== IC 457 may be (or maybe not!) NGC 2330, which see. ===== IC 458 may be -- but is probably not -- NGC 2334. See NGC 2330 for a discussion. ===== IC 459. See NGC 2330. ===== IC 462 is a star. It has a faint galaxy nearby that may have helped give the impression of nebulosity to the star. This is the only one of Kobold's nine new nebulae in the area which is not a galaxy. For more on this group, see the extensive discussion under NGC 2330. ===== IC 465 may be NGC 2334 (or, as with IC 457 and NGC 2330, maybe not!). See NGC 2330 for a discussion. ===== IC 468. Bigourdan's first observation under his number 149 is a triple star, with a few other fainter stars involved, about 20 arcmin west of NGC 2359 and NGC 2361 (both of which see). His second observation, which he himself recognized to be of a different object falls into a blank area about 5 seconds of time west of the triple star. It is just possible that he saw a blended double star about 45 arcseconds south-southwest of his nominal position, but I think this second observation is more likely to have been one of Bigourdan's "fausse images". ----- IC 468 has been misidentified as a part of NGC 2359 ("Thor's Helmet") in several catalogues and atlases, most recently "Annals of the Deep Sky." I have traced this back at least as far as Sven Cederblad's 1946 Lund Observatory thesis, and it may go even further than that. No matter what the earlier observers had to say, Bigourdan's measurements are definitive. I've adopted his first measurement -- the one that eventually ended up in the IC -- as the position for IC 468. ===== IC 470 may be a double star near Swift's position; there are no nebulae in this area. The double is about the right brightness to have been mistaken by him on a poor night as a tiny nebula. He found only one other nebula on the same night (2 October 1891), IC 1300 (which see). That has an error of exactly one degree in its position (it is = NGC 6798), but there are no nebulae a degree north of the nominal place of IC 470. At least Swift did not make the same mistake twice on the same night. ===== IC 473 is a group of four or more stars, three of them rather faint. Spitaler's position for them is excellent, as is his description. He notes NGC 2433 -- itself a triple star -- near to the northeast, and BD +9 1746 just 4 seconds of time directly west. The identity is secure. ----- While I was adding Gaia DR2 positions in November 2018, I found that the faintest object here was not included in the Gaia list. The SDSS and Pan-STARRS1 images show a faint galaxy here, not a star. I doubt that this would have added much (if anything) to Spitaler's image at the eyepiece, but I'm keeping it in the list as a companion. Since Gaia does not include the galaxy, I've adopted the Pan-STARRS positions for the objects. I think it's also likely that Spitaler saw only the western double star -- the eastern star is the faintest of the three. Until I can find a visual observation, however, I'm keeping all three in the list. ===== IC 483 is a double star at Spitaler's position. Even though he notes that it is brighter in the middle -- which it is not -- there is no doubting the identification as his position is good, and he also mentions the star just northeast. ===== IC 487 = NGC 2494, which see. ===== IC 488 may be the star with the accompanying faint, compact galaxy that Wolfgang has chosen. But Rudolf Spitaler's very precise position, measured with respect to two different comparison stars on the same night (8 Feb 1891), is over 20 arcseconds away. His two measurements, reduced with respect to the AC2000.2 positions for the comparison stars (epoch 1902.43, close enough to Spitaler's observation date that I've ignored the eleven plus years of proper motion), are accordant to within two arcseconds. I had originally thought that his object was the triple star on to the east of the double, but that is even further from his measured place. All the candidate stars for IC 488 are listed in the position tables. Another mystery: In his description of his nebula, Spitaler mentions a 13th magnitude star 16.84 seconds preceding, 20.4 arcsec south of his nebula. That star was 15.74 seconds west and 34.4 seconds south of the double (for equinox 1891.11). But reducing his offsets with respect to the AC2000.2 position (epoch 1903.35) for the star leads to a position 1.88 seconds of time on east and 30.9 seconds south of his other two positions. So, his three measurements are not internally consistent. For the time being, I've listed the star+compact as the most likely candidate, but am not convinced that either it or the triple was Spitaler's object. In addition, he calls it a quarter of an arcminute in diameter. While the distance across the triple is about 20 arcseconds, the separation of the star and galaxy is only 4.6 arcsec. The other obvious option is a comet. But this seems unlikely as Spitaler's three measurements are not internally consistent and I think he would have noticed a comet's motion against the background stars (unless it was very distant, of course). So, I suspect some sort of errors in his observations, but cannot even guess what they might be. I also should note that I mistook the compact galaxy for a star when I first saw it (my previous note calls the pair a double star). But having loaded the SDSS into NED, and revisiting the IC objects a couple of months later, I found that the SDSS team had actually taken a spectrum of the galaxy and found it to have a redshift of z = 0.1919 (57,530 km/s). This is one of the largest redshifts for any object in the IC, and makes it less likely -- in my mind, at least -- that Spitaler actually could have seen it. The SDSS g-band magnitude is around 18, probably too faint for the galaxy to have been picked up even with Spitaler's 27-inch refractor. Perhaps the galaxy added a bit of fuzz to the nearby star, but I'd want to check it in a similar-sized telescope. ===== IC 489 is a star. Spitaler describes it as "A small (not more than 10 arcsec diameter) faint nebula with a stellar nucleus." His single micrometrically- measured position used BD +26 1704 as a comparison. At the time he published the measurement, he had no accurate position for the BD star, so his roughly reduced position is the one that appears in IC1. A few years later (see "Wiener Annalen XI, 125"), he got a better position for the BD star, so was able to properly reduce his measurement. Dreyer provided a more accurate NPD in the IC2 Notes that leads us directly to the faint star that Spitaler mistook as a nebula. ===== IC 491. This is the brighter, southeastern of a pair of galaxies in a group; there are several others in the field. Javelle's micrometric position is just a few arcseconds to the southeast of the nucleus of the brighter galaxy, so there is no mistaking the object he saw. ===== IC 496 = IC 2229. This and IC 2229 are almost certainly identical. Both were found by Javelle; while the mean of his micrometric positions agrees to within a few seconds of the GSC position, he does not mention the existence of a nearby second nebula in either observation (one made 2 March 1892, the second 11 Feb 1896, with both being referred to the same star) -- unless one interprets his remark "extended east-west" as including the following object (both galaxies are extended north-south on the PSS). The 2nd is actually an interacting double system. Both of its components are fainter than the one single brighter galaxy 15 arcsec preceding. ===== IC 497. Javelle's position falls west of the galaxy and a little north, apparently influenced by the faint double star close to the northwest edge of the galaxy (there is another brighter double about 1.1 arcminutes to the north and a little east). I'm going to keep the identification firmly with the galaxy, though, and adopt my usual notation for the stars -- they are "nearby", not part of the IC object (though if you want to pull them in, I won't object). ===== IC 501. Included as a new nebula by Wolf in his first "Nebel-liste" from Heidelberg Bruce plates, Dreyer caught the identity with the IC1 object and did not assign it an IC2 number. ===== IC 507 is probably NGC 2590. Steve Gottlieb has just (June 2021) pointed out my own error in dealing with this object (you can dig an earlier copy of this file out of the Internet Archive if you are seriously interested in all I had to say). My old copy of Swift's 8th list has a lot of photocopy scruff over it, one bit of which landed on the "tail" of the "9" in Swift's RA, making it look like a "0". The ADS PDF scan of Swift's list has an unobscured "9", and the copy that Gary Kronk used as the List 8 source for his book on Swift was also correct; Gary's table has the correct position. In any case, using this correct position, I am led back to NGC 2590. While Swift's declination is about 9 arcminutes off (perhaps a 10 arcminute trascription error?), his description -- "eeF, pS, vlE; bet 2 sts; sev pB sts nr; driving clock failed" -- is a fair match for the NGC object as seen through a long-focus refractor. It isn't clear to me, though, looking at the DSS images, which two stars the galaxy is between; there are many stars in the field. Swift's "sev pB sts nr" are southwest of the galaxy. I should also note that Dreyer apparently did make a thirty second error in precessing Swift's 1890 position to 1860 for the NGC. ===== IC 510. Javelle did not mention the faint companion to the west, so I've renamed the objects (Sept 2013). Also, having seen the IIIa-J and IIIa-F plates of the objects, I'm pretty well convinced that the second object is, in fact, a companion, not a knot in the brighter galaxy. ===== IC 511 = NGC 2646. After Steve Gottlieb and I had convinced ourselves that Swift's positions for IC 895, 1028, and 1045 (all of which see; IC 895 has the full story) have RA's that are ten minutes of time too small, Courtney Seligman suggested that this final nebula discovered by Swift on 1 September 1888 shares the same error. I was skeptical at first as Swift's nominal position for IC 511 is almost exactly coincident with UGC 4510, the usual galaxy taken as IC 511. Given, however, that the corrected position is also nearly coincident with NGC 2646, and that the NGC galaxy actually does have a "wide D * nr sf" -- the UGC galaxy does not -- Courtney has made a strong case for the identity. Courtney also points out that this clears up another mystery with Swift's description (in full, it reads, "vF, S, cE; wide D * nr sf; sp of 2") -- how can this be the "sp of 2"? The galaxy with the notation "nf of 2" is IC 520, nearly a degree away if we take Swift's positions as accurate. If, however, we take the position for IC 511 and correct it by +10 minutes, the separation becomes a much more understandable 12.5 arcminutes. This may also explain Swift's note for IC 520, "... another suspected." He found IC 520 on 29 August 1888, three nights before IC 511. I wonder if he returned to the field on 1 September to search for his "suspected" nebula. If so, his recovery of it could well have led to the "sp/nf of 2" in the descriptions. It does leave open the question of why Swift did not recognize the wide separation implied by his incorrect position for IC 511. Whatever happened, I am confident that Courtney is correct and that IC 511 is indeed NGC 2646. I've left UGC 4510 in the position table, though with double question marks, to flag the previous identification. Also see NGC 2646 and IC 520 for a curiosity that has bothered me since the days of my work with de Vaucouleurs in 1965 on galaxy groups in RC1. ===== IC 518. This does not exist, though it was observed twice (six years apart, first in 1890) by Bigourdan near NGC 2618 (which also see). His micrometric observations are in agreement and are unambiguously referred to BD +01 2137. However, there are only a few vF stars near his place, and nothing at all that matches his description. The RA given in the IC, though correctly copied from the Comptes rendus paper, is wrong: it should read "08 28 51." In the end, however, this is apparently another of Bigourdan's "fausse images." ===== IC 520 forms a pair with NGC 2646 = IC 511. See IC 511 for that story. Also see NGC 2646 for a curiosity that has bothered me for decades about these two galaxies. ===== IC 521. Javelle described this as "13th magnitude star surrounded by nebulosity. The nebulous character is certain." It is, of course, a galaxy, the brightest in a small group. At least one other galaxy is superposed on the corona (its position is included in the table), and there are three other fainter objects there, too. Two of these look like galaxies as well, while the faintest -- almost directly north of IC 521 -- could be a faint Galactic star. ===== IC 530. Is this also NGC 2786? See that for the short story. ===== IC 532 apparently does not exist. Bigourdan normally gives detailed observations of the nebulae he observed. However, among those that he discovered, seven (IC 532, 543, 759, 1164, 1206, 4977, and 5303; see the notes for each of the others for details specific to them) were listed only in the two tables in his Appendix VII devoted to his new nebulae; though three of them, IC 759, IC 1164, and IC 4977 (all of which see) are listed in his Appendix VIII, "Complementary Measures". The "missing" objects also appear, of course, in his separately published lists of new nebulae from which Dreyer extracted them for the NGC and IC's. No differential positions from nearby stars are given for these seven objects in Bigourdan's main tables, so we have only his reduced positions and the published descriptions to go on as we attempt to identify them. IC 532 = B 152 is especially curious, as it was apparently the only object among this group that Bigourdan recorded twice (23 and 25 March 1887). In addition to the position and date, we have a magnitude ("11?") and the remark "Fausse image?" as well as the IC description, "pB, pL, Epf, bM." The object was not found at Helwan in the 1920's, and I found no trace of it on the PSS while working on SEGC. Was it possibly a comet as was IC 2120? Or was it, as Bigourdan remarked, simply a "false image"? ===== IC 538 = NGC 2885, which see; as well as "NGC 2885 companions" in the "notngc" files. ===== IC 541. There is a faint star near Swift's place that he might have seen as an "eeF, pS, R" nebula -- but there is no sign of the "10m * s" that he mentions in the description. There must be a large error in Swift's position, but a search of the surrounding area turned up no galaxies that he might have seen with a 10th magnitude star to the south. ----- In August 2016, Yann Pothier made the interesting suggestion that Swift may have seen LEDA 90922 = FGC 0899. This supposes a declination error on Swift's part of -30 arcminutes, and an RA error of 21 seconds -- we've seen both sorts of errors in his lists before. There is also a star of the appropriate magnitude about 3 arcminutes to the southwest. Arguing against this interpretation is the fact that Swift describes his object as "round", while the galaxy is almost exactly edge-on, a faint "ray". There are also two other stars, of similar brightness to the one southwest, about 5-6 arcminutes to the southeast. If this is Swift's object, why didn't he also mention these two stars? Finally, the galaxy is very faint. While Swift has several other objects of similar brightness, I think this particular one, being edgewise, would be difficult to pick up during routine sweeping. A visual confirmation would be nice to have here. I have nevertheless put Yann's suggestion into the position table with a query. While I'm not convinced this is correct, it is certainly worth a mention. ===== IC 543. The MCG has this = NGC 2902, but as Bigourdan observed the NGC object in its correct position, B.155 = IC 543 is not likely to be the NGC object. There is a faint galaxy 4.0 arcmin southwest of NGC 2902 that might be IC 543, but Bigourdan's positions are usually better. There is also a star near the position Bigourdan lists, but -- as with IC 532 (which see) -- he gives no details of his observation, so we have only his position and description ("vF, pL, E, dif") as clues. Neither supports the notion that Bigourdan actually recorded the star (unless the seeing was extraordinarily bad that night). One curious note: this object, IC 532, and IC 759 all come from the night of 23 March 1887. Perhaps the seeing was bad. Or did Bigourdan fall victim to some sort of bookkeeping error? ===== IC 547 = NGC 2947 = IC 2494. The RA of N2947 is 2m 14s in error, but the NPD is good, and the descriptions (given the different telescopes used) match. Swift's position is fair, and Howe missed the identity with I547 (as did Dreyer), so the object received an entry in IC2 as well. It is, as far as I know now (May 2003), the only object to have an entry in all three of Dreyer's catalogues. ===== IC 554 = IC 555. Though there is a fainter galaxy near the nominal position for IC 555 (at 09 40 12.3 +12 36 44, B1950.0), it is more likely that Swift saw the same brighter object that Javelle did and made a 10 arcmin error in the declination. ===== IC 555 = IC 554, which see. ===== IC 556 = NGC 2984. The position for N2984 is poor, but as it was observed by both W. and J. Herschel, there can be little doubt as to its existence. The RNGC accepts Reinmuth's questioned identity (N2984 = I556), and I see no reason not to do the same. Javelle's position is good. There is a faint star 0.5 arcmin south-southwest, and I556 is the brightest in a group. ===== IC 565 has a very compact companion very nearly superposed on its warped disk. I've mistaken this companion as a star at least twice, but it is clearly non-stellar on closer inspection, even on the DSS image. ===== IC 567 is a star northeast of NGC 3024. Bigourdan estimated its offset from the galaxy on just the first night (18 March 1890) he saw it. He did not find it again on a poorer second night nine years later, and even on a third night in 1903, he says that he only glimpsed it occasionally. He did note another object southeast of NGC 3024 on that last night, but that too is a star. ===== IC 573 = NGC 3058s. The NGC position is again off in RA (but note Howe's correction in an IC2 note), but the description is accurate as is the NPD. Javelle could not have been aware of Howe's correction which was published after Javelle's first list. Javelle's place precedes the galaxy by about 3.5 seconds (an unusual error to make) and his declination is more appropriate for NGC 3058n. If we assume he saw the larger southern object, his "vS * close" is probably NGC 3058n. ----- Looking at this again in July 2018, I am no longer sure that Javelle's object is the larger, brighter, southern galaxy of the pair. His RA is just 1.4 seconds of time west of the fainter NGC 3058n with a nearly identical declination; his description 'Extremely faint, round, 10" in diameter, difficult, near a very small star' fits the northern object better. Given the disturbed nature of the pair, it could be possible that his "very small star" is actually the partially hidden nucleus of the southern galaxy. However, Steve Gottlieb's observation of IC 573 reads: 17.5" (4/15/93): faint, fairly small, round, low even surface brightness. A mag 13 star is 1.0' W. A wide mag 12/13 pair at 45" separation lies 2' SSW and a mag 12/13.5 pair at 30" separation E-W lies 3.5' W. He simply makes Javelle's object identical with NGC 3058 without specifically mentioning either the northern or southern components. His description also strongly suggests that the two were not separated in his eyepiece view. His description of the star field around the galaxy is very accurate, though, and further suggests that Javelle's "very small star" could well have been the 13th-magnitude star one minute west that Steve noted. Herbert Howe did see both objects. His observation (from MNRAS 60, 130, 1899) with the 20-inch Chamberlin Observatory refractor is closer to the pair's appearance in the sky survey images: The following nucleus is the brighter. The preceding is at 210[degrees], 20". The position of the brighter nucleus is 9h 48m 44s, -12[deg] 0'.7. His position for the southern object is very good. It's obvious that Javelle's observation does not give us enough information to decide which galaxy he saw. Given that the observations I've seen are not diagnostic, either, I'm simply going to adopt Steve's solution, letting "IC 573" be identical to NGC 3058. ===== IC 575 is an S0 sp pec with a strong dust lane that looks similar to NGC 5128. It is often called a "polar ring galaxy" (see e.g. Schweizer, Whitmore, and Rubin, AJ 88, 909, 1983 and Whitmore et al AJ 100, 1489, 1990); this class is assumed to arise from the merger of two galaxies, but detailed data for this particular galaxy is pretty thin on the ground (see Cox and Sparke, AJ 128, 2013, 2004, and references therein). Nevertheless, it is an interesting object, appearing on the DSS as quite similar to Saturn seen with its rings almost edge-on. The corona is also somewhat distorted with very faint extensions north and south. It's also the brightest in a group also containing IC 574 and MCG -01-25-059. One of the companions is a very faint IBm just 50 arcseconds to the southwest. ===== IC 579 may be MCG -02-26-005, but the MCG galaxy is 23 arcmin north of Swift's nominal position. The RA's are identical to within Swift's usual (rather large) error, which makes this the only reasonable candidate near Swift's position. However, it is fainter than I'd expect for an object that Swift describes as "pF, pS, R" (unfortunately, he has nothing about the star field). I have not yet checked for digit errors in the position. Perhaps Swift's Dec is one degree or ten degrees off. Or maybe his RA is ... (and so on). This should be checked before pronouncing the MCG galaxy as certainly being the object Swift dug out. ===== IC 580 = NGC 3069. Discovered by Dreyer with LdR's 72-inch, the faint NGC galaxy is pretty well-placed by him at 5 arcmin north-northwest of NGC 3070. He does comment, however, "Clouds," which would account for his remaining caution in describing the object: "... an object which I have little doubt is a vF, vS neb, perhaps lE". Though the NGC position is a little over an arcminute southeast of the galaxy, there is no doubt that it was seen by Dreyer. Why, then, did Javelle think it was a "nova"? That he made some mistake is suggested since he claims, in a footnote to IC 584, that that galaxy is "Distinct from NGC 3069 and 3070." Which two of the galaxies in the area he thought were the NGC pair is not clear, though. In any event, Javelle's position for the galaxy makes clear that he saw the same object as did Dreyer; the identity is secure. ===== IC 585 is a companion to NGC 3080, which see for more information on Bigourdan's observations. ===== IC 587. Steve Gottlieb points out that Javelle's offsets from his comparison star carry the wrong signs. Re-reducing his position using modern data for his comparison star, BD -1d 2336, leads to a position just a few arcseconds west of the nucleus of UGC 5411. There is no doubt about this identification as there is nothing at the position implied by Javelle's published offsets. ===== IC 590 is an interacting double galaxy. Javelle saw both components, noting "Looks like a double star surrounded by nebulosity." ===== IC 591, credited in the IC to Javelle, was also seen by David Todd during his search for "the trans-Neptunian planet" in 1877. It is Todd's number (22). See NGC 3604 and IC 591's entry in the "notngc" files for more. ===== IC 604 = NGC 3220. Swift's description and position pinpoint NGC 3220 as the correct object. He most likely simply did not check the NGC before publishing this as new, as the NGC position -- from WH -- is good, too. ===== IC 606 = NGC 3217, which see. ===== IC 610. See IC 611. ===== IC 611 is almost certainly identical with IC 610. Almost. Found the 20th of April in 1889 by Lewis Swift while he was still working in Rochester, his description of IC 610 is entirely appropriate: "eeF, pS, cE; in center of semicircle of 3 wide D sts". This is a fine description of the Scd: spindle near Swift's position (10 23 32, +20 29.2 for B1950.0). Two nights later, he found an object just 10 seconds of time east, and one arcminute north, of his position for IC 610 -- closer in fact to the galaxy than his position for IC 610. His description, however, is considerably sparcer: "eF, S, lE". The "lE" is bothersome, as is the fact that Swift himself found the galaxy just two nights on. Did he have any memory of the fields in which he found new nebulae? So, in spite of the position, the identity is not quite a "slam-dunk". What else in the area might he have seen? Not much actually -- there is nothing worth noting either a degree north or south of the galaxy, nor is there anything 1 or 2 minutes of time east or west. There are three other objects at more or less random positions nearby worth noting -- but all have strikes against their being IC 611: The double star at 10 23 27.8, +20 30 42 is just an arcminute south of a 10th magnitude star that Swift would surely have noted. The galaxy 2MASX J10245618+2024102 at 10 22 12.2, +20 39 25 is quite faint and nowhere near Swift's nominal position. The same is true of the galaxy WAS 11 at 10 24 42.1, +20 42 11. This one at least has a higher surface brightness. In the end, however, it is easiest to simply equate the two numbers. Is it right? Well, probably. I'd sure like to see Swift's original log books, assuming they still exist, of course. ===== IC 617 is the brightest of the triplet NGC 3280 = NGC 3295 (which see for another story). Neither NGC position is very good, so Javelle can be excused for thinking he had a new nebula. I do find it a little curious that he did not mention the two slightly fainter galaxies just following the brighter one that he measured. He was, after all, using a 30-inch refractor, larger than the 26-inch that Leavenworth used to sketch the triplet. There is, in any case, no doubting the identification. Javelle's micrometric measurement falls within a few arcseconds of the nucleus of the brightest galaxy. ===== IC 618 = NGC 3296, which see. As with IC 617, also found by Javelle, the NGC RA (from Leavenworth) is so far off that Javelle did not notice the identity. That was left to Herbert Howe. ===== IC 619 is UGC 5735. Swift's description of the three stars following the galaxy was summarized by Dreyer in IC1. In full, it reads: "A p l (sic) triangle of 3 F sts nr f, one a vF D." The "vF D" is indeed one of the stars southeast of the galaxy. A somewhat fainter star follows the double by 2.5 arcmin, and turns Swift's stars into an even more striking asterism. Swift's position is therefore off by +19 seconds and -20.0 arcmin. ===== IC 620 is the brighter of a double galaxy. Unfortunately, CGCG put the IC number on its entry for both objects, so the number has migrated to the fainter galaxy in its journey to LEDA (as of July 2004; it should be fixed soon). Javelle's position is good, and falls within four arcsec of the brighter galaxy. ===== IC 621. The IC position is about 2.5 arcmin too far north because the BD position for Javelle's comparison star (BD +3 2388) is in error by that amount. When the correct position for the star (from PPM, SAO, or GSC) is used, IC 621 is clearly identical with CGCG 037-074, not with CGCG 037-075 as claimed in CGCG. ===== IC 622 = NGC 3279, which see. ===== IC 625 is ESO 501- G080 = MCG -04-26-001. Muller's RA offset from NGC 3335 has the wrong sign in the big 1893 Leander McCormick list of micrometric observations. Rather than being 3min 3.6sec west of N3335, it is that distance east. The description fits, including the position angle, and there is no doubt about the identity. ===== IC 629 = NGC 3312. This is the identity that Bigourdan published in his big table without comment. So, we can only speculate as to why he thought he had a new nebula when he first went over the field. Perhaps it was JH's slightly uncertain north polar distance. In his first observation of it on 26 March 1835, he says "... PD only correct to the nearest minute." His polar distance is not, however, marked uncertain. But in his second observation four nights later, he says "No PD taken, a hurried observation, and the wire mistaken ([RA] rectified in reduction)." Curiously, his single polar distance is two arcminutes south of that in the NGC (which is just an arcminute south of the modern position for the galaxy). No other observers are creditted with observing this, so either Dreyer or JH made a mistake in transcribing the NPD into the GC and/or NGC, or JH has other observations that his did not include in his CGH volume. In any event, Bigourdan's object is certainly the same as JH's and the identity is sure. ===== IC 640 and IC 641 do not exist. Though Bigourdan has micrometric measurements for both of them -- four for IC 640 -- on 27 March 1887, he notes, in italics, "This is, without doubt, a false image" for both objects. The nominal positions are both near bright stars, about 15 arcmin apart. There are several galaxies in the area, but only NGC 3381 -- for which Bigourdan has separate measurements -- is bright enough to have been seen by him. I'm going to trust his comments and call both objects non-existent. ===== IC 641 does not exist. See IC 640. ===== IC 644 = NGC 3398, which see. ===== IC 646. See NGC 3398 = IC 644. ===== IC 649 is an interacting double galaxy. It is relatively faint, so Javelle did not see the two components separately. He did, however, make a note of the brighter star just to the southwest. ===== IC 652 = NGC 3421. Even though these numbers refer to the same galaxy, the nominal positions are 25 arcmin apart on the sky. Common's position for the NGC number is 13.5 arcmin too far north (and is actually a mean position for this and its companion, NGC 3422), while Javelle's is 11.5 arcmin too far south. Common's position is a crude estimate from his setting circles, while Javelle's is, like all of his, micrometrically measured. Unfortunately, as he sometimes did, Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Rather than being BD -11 2960 as he claims, it is actually -11 2959. Once the right star is used for the reduction, Javelle's position falls within five arcsec of the nucleus of the galaxy. The identity is certain. ===== IC 656 is a triple star with a very faint galaxy just south of the eastern-most star. Found by Bigourdan, he later claimed it to be identical to NGC 3460 (not true; see N3460 for more). There has been additional confusion over the identification of this, since it is possible that this was actually the object seen by JH and the "Mr. Bailey" mentioned in JH's description. It is also possible that d'A saw this object when he was looking for h793. See both NGC 3457 and NGC 3460 for more. In any event, the IC identification is secure; Bigourdan's position, from five measurements on two nights, is within a few arcsec of the triple, and his description is appropriate. I'm not sure that he could have seen the faint galaxy, but it may have somewhat enhanced the nebulous appearance of the stars. ===== IC 669, creditted in the IC to Javelle, was also seen by David Todd during his search for "the trans-Neptunian planet" in 1877. It is Todd's number (8). See NGC 3604 for more, as well as IC 669's entry in the "notngc" files. ===== IC 670. See NGC 3531. ===== IC 675 may be the double star listed in the main table. There is certainly nothing at Javelle's position, and there is no error in his data for his nominal comparison star, BD +4 2426. His offsets (+46.78 seconds, -2' 29.6"), though, are matched (+46.43 seconds, -1' 28.8") -- except for the error of 1 arcmin in Dec -- by the double and a 12th magnitude star that he might have used as a comparison star. That star, though, is fainter than almost all his other comparison stars. Still, the double star matches his description, and the agreement of the offsets (that pesky 1 arcmin aside) make it tempting to accept the double as IC 675. Were it not for the fact that Javelle mentions NGC 3580 in a footnote, I might suggest that the NGC galaxy is also IC 675. But there is no star at any reasonable position that might have been the comparison star that Javelle used. In the end, we have a possible identification, but no more. ===== IC 682 = NGC 3649. Swift's RA is one minute of time too small, and I think that his note "vF * close np" applies to NGC 3646 -- there is no star northwest of NGC 3649 that he could have seen. Otherwise, his observation fits NGC 3649 very well. I assume typos and/or transcription errors. ===== IC 683. See IC 684 and NGC 3645. ===== IC 684 = NGC 3644. Even though Marth's positions, adopted in NGC, for NGC 3643, 44, and 47 are good, Bigourdan misidentified the latter two objects. He placed N3644 some 35 arcsec south-following his position for IC 683 (which has a 1 arcmin error in Bigourdan's big table in the distance from the comparison star, and he measured a star as N3647) -- there is nothing in his measured place. He lists two "new" objects in the area, I683 and I684. His positions for both are good, and that for I684 is almost identical to Marth's position for N3644. Also see the discussion under NGC 3645. ===== IC 685. Swift's note "New General Catalogue 3605, 7, 8 in field" should have given this away to anyone with access to Swift's original paper. Well, I didn't notice this, but Malcolm Thomson did. Gary Kronk reported Malcolm's note to me in May 2017, and I'm pleased to acknowledge their work in setting the record straight. The galaxy usually taken as IC 685 is PGC 34871. It is reasonably close to Swift's published position and more or less matches his description "eeF, pS, R; * nr nf." It even has the "* nr nf" (there are in fact two there). However, the galaxy is very faint (even by modern standards), probably beyond Swift's reach even with his 16-inch. And the NGC galaxies are five minutes of time to the west. I suspect that the five minute error is what caught Malcolm's eye. Given that, the galaxy that Swift saw is almost certainly UGC 6296 = PGC 34419. It is well within his optical grasp, is just about 15 arcminutes south of the NGC objects at the correct declination, and has a single star 1.3 arcminutes northeast. The only element of Swift's description that does not match is the note "R" -- the galaxy is considerably elongated at about PA = 168 degrees. Nevertheless, with the five minute error corrected, the galaxy fits Swift's position to within his usual errors, so there is little doubt that Malcolm is correct with his identification. ===== IC 687. In his description in AN 3004, Swift mentions a "F * nr f; another sus[pected] nr p". The first faint star is actually preceding, and there is another, actually double, on to the west-northwest just a couple of arcminutes from the galaxy. (There are no stars to the east that he could have seen.) As with a similar note for IC 801 (which see), we need to keep in mind his very large, 32-arcmin field -- though in this case, he has certainly made at least one simple mistake. ===== IC 688 was found by Ormond Stone in January 1888. He measured it micrometrically (12 settings in RA, 2 in Dec), as did Frank Muller about a year later (12 RA settings, 4 Dec settings). They referred their two sets of measurements to the same star, and it is those that I've used to re-reduce the position. (Stone has another set of four measurements using another star, but he did only the RA; I've not reduced these, but they are consistent with the other measurements.) The position so reduced is within a couple of arcseconds of the 2MASS position, so there is no question about the identity of the galaxy. Unfortunately, Wolfgang picked up a fainter galaxy 44 seconds of time further on east and called it IC 688. I did not catch this until I was loading the IC into NED early in 2005, so all my earlier lists have the wrong galaxy. ===== IC 689 = NGC 3661. The IC number is from another of the Leander McCormick micrometrically measured nebulae that found its way into IC1 by mistake. The two positions -- NGC and IC -- are virtually identical, yet neither the LM observers (Muller and Stone) nor Dreyer noticed this. This is even more puzzling since Muller and Stone did notice the NGC number on the following of the two nebulae, NGC 3667. Oh, well -- these things happen. Just to add to the confusion, Stone misidentified his comparison star, though Muller did not. Had the LM folks reduced their observations to RA and Dec, they probably would have noticed this. The stars, by the way, are two of three in a line southwest of the galaxy. Though of approximately equal brightness, only two of them made it into the BD extension. Stone thought his star was the first of the two BD stars, but it was actually the one the BD observers missed. ===== IC 694 is the faint galaxy just northwest of the peculiar interacting pair NGC 3690. Swift's discovery note is not very clear about the object's location with respect to the NGC object, but his position places it northwest. If we assume that he took the NGC position for 3690 and offset from that to find his own position and compare the offsets with those from the modern positions, we find roughly the same numbers. Swift, however, was not the first to see IC 694. Lord Rosse's observation of NGC 3690 in 1860 mentions an "appendage" about one object (i.e. NGC 3690) diameter northwest. This description fits what he could have easily seen with his 72-inch "Leviathan," so Dreyer correctly credits him as well as Swift with the discovery. ===== IC 696 is the largest of a group of galaxies including IC 698 and IC 699. All these, and many others, were seen on an early plate taken by Max Wolf at Heidelberg in 1906; the full of nebulae that Wolf found on that plate are in his 7th list, merged into the 2nd IC. Many of the "nebulae" that Wolf found are, in fact, stars near the plate limit. See IC 2630 for more about this particular plate. ===== IC 698. This is not IC 2868 (which see), in spite of Carlson's claim of equality. Also see IC 696. ===== IC 699. See IC 696 and IC 2868. ===== IC 700. This is a compact group of galaxies, Hickson 54. Javelle may have seen just the largest and brightest of the objects. However, his description, "Nearly round, about 40 arcsec in diameter, a little brighter toward the middle," suggests that he saw at least the brightest three of the objects, blended into a single image. His estimated size easily encompasses at least these three, and perhaps all four. I've included all of the galaxies in the table. ----- The SDSS image makes these look more like an interacting pair, with the southwestern galaxy having a very compact, very bright nucleus. The two two "galaxies" look more like irregularly, semi-detached pieces of the second galaxy (labeled "I0700mw" in the position table) which has a small, faint nucleus. ===== IC 703 and IC 704 are a pair described by Swift as "eeF, S, R, p of 2" and "eF, vS (? close D), f of 2". His positions orient them southwest/northeast and separated by about 4 arcmin. There is nothing in the area that matches these constraints. There is a possibility that they may be NGC 3704 and N3707, about 1m 40s west of Swift's nominal positions. But those are on an almost exact east-west line, and are separated by only about an arcmin. Also, the brighter object is the western, while Swift makes the eastern brighter. Finally, NGC 3707 shows no sign of being double. There is also the possibility that NPM1G -11.0302, about 4 arcmin north- northeast might be the second of Swift's nebulae, with N3704 the first. Again, however, the Lick galaxy shows no sign of duplicity, and it is even fainter than N3707 and is thus less likely to have been picked up visually. The only other nebulae that Swift found on the same night (IC 619 and IC 799) have problems of their own (I619 is 20 arcmin north of Swift's position, while I799 is identical to NGC 4520). So, a systematic error in Swift's positions can't be claimed for the night. All in all, there is not much to go on here. So, the identifications with the NGC objects are only tentative, and very questionable. ===== IC 704. See IC 703. ===== IC 713 may be a 17th magnitude star near Bigourdan's estimated place. He notes the object as "only suspected", so he may actually have glimpsed the star. But it is so faint, that I wonder if he actually did, especially given that it is just 3 arcmin north-northeast of a 7th magnitude star. ===== IC 714 = NGC 3763, which see. ===== IC 715 is a double galaxy. Javelle's position falls exactly between the two components, and his description reads (a free translation by me): "Faint, nearly round, 35-40 arcsec in diameter, appears as a milky patch of uniform light." It's clear that he saw this as a single object. ===== IC 717 = NGC 3779, which also see. Frank Muller observed this and NGC 3775 before the NGC was published, so the "name" he assigns to NGC 3775 is the reference to Common's short list of new nebulae in Copernicus. He also used NGC 3775 as the reference "star" for his observation of this. Given that he knew about Common's list, I find it a little odd that he labels this galaxy a "Nova" in his list. Unfortunately, Muller measured only an RA for the galaxy, and that is exactly 30 seconds of time too large. His offset from NGC 3775 is printed as +0min 53.92sec. Since he measured this three times, I suspect this is a simple transcription or typographical error somewhere between his observing log and the published table. Whatever happened, Muller's description leaves no doubt that he saw NGC 3779. He called it magnitude 15.8, diameter 1.0 x 0.8 arcmin, extended 90 degrees, diffuse. This is perfect for this low surface brightness object, so the identity with N3779 is certain. ===== IC 720 is a double interacting galaxy; the northern is the brighter component, and this is the one that Spitaler probably saw. His position is about 10 arcsec northeast of the nucleus of the northern galaxy, so we are only reasonably certain about his observation. ===== IC 722 and IC 724. Spitaler misidentified his comparison star, and gave it the coordinates of yet another misidentified star. The star he actually used is BD +09d 2534. He claims he used BD +09d 2531, and gave the coordinates of BD +09d 2532. His descriptions of his objects, however, leaves no doubt as to the correct identifications. He notes a "* 10 nf 2 arcmin" for I722, and "lE 45d" for I724. Both clearly identify his objects; they are both 8 seconds east and 5.5 arcmin south of his positions (which Dreyer copied correctly into the IC). ===== IC 724. See IC 722. ===== IC 726. Spitaler's declination offset has the wrong sign in his paper: it should be "+" rather than "-". This puts Spitaler's position exactly on a faint, otherwise uncatalogued galaxy. Curiously, there is a somewhat brighter galaxy (UGC 6696) just two arcmin to the northwest. How did Spitaler miss that? Well, it's a busy field (see NGC 3847, NGC 3855, and IC 2953 for more). ===== IC 730 = NGC 3849, which see. ===== IC 731. Yann Pothier suggested in August 2016 that this object, found by Lewis Swift on 11 May 1890, may be UGC 06726 = CGCG 243-002 rather than the considerably fainter CGCG 243-003 that we have assumed up to now. The errors would be +52 seconds in RA and -9.2 arcminutes in Dec rather than +43 seconds in RA alone. All of these are close enough to digit errors (+50 seconds, -10 arcminutes, and +40 seconds) that a choice on that criterion alone would suggest the "traditional" identification with the fainter galaxy -- just one error rather than two. However, Yann points out that the magnitudes tell a different story. UGC 6726 is nearly two magnitudes brighter, V = 13.8 vs. 15.6 for CGCG 243-003 (magnitudes converted from SDSS photometry). This is a pretty convincing argument, so I have put colons on the UGC object, and question marks on the fainter CGCG. Another possibility that Yann mentions is NGC 3870. For this, the RA error is only +4 seconds, and the Dec error is -38 arcminutes, suggestive of a 40 arcminute digit error. The galaxy is even brighter, too, at V = 13.1. So, there are three reasonable choices for Swift's object. My own feeling is that UGC 6726 is the correct object, but given that the other two galaxies have points in their favor, I don't think that we can rule them out. ===== IC 732. There are two galaxies at Bigourdan's place, roughly the same size and magnitude. Which one did he see? Going into his big table, we find that his description reads "Extremely faint and diffuse, but its existence is certain; I can see brighter points in it which may be stars 13.4-13.5." So, he saw both objects, even if marginally. ----- His position is a bit closer to the brighter, southern galaxy. But given his description, I prefer to keep both objects as the IC object. ===== IC 734 is double, though Javelle's description is for a single object. Reducing his micrometric position, we find that he measured, and presumeably only saw, the southern object. ===== IC 735. There is nothing in the IC position. But going into Javelle's first paper, we find a footnote on page B.32 that reads "Page B.13, nebula no. 202, in place of 79d 0.6m, read 76d 0.6m." He caught a typo, apparently in proof before the final printing plates for the second section of his paper were set. When we make that change, Javelle's position falls exactly on UGC 6775, and his description fits the galaxy. ===== IC 736 and IC 737 are the two brightest galaxies in Hickson 59. They have been misidentified in several catalogues (including CGCG and Hickson's) in spite of the relatively good positions given in IC. Javelle discovered them on the same night and measured them with respect to the same star. Re- reducing his positions with respect to the AC 2000.2 position for that star removes all doubt about which galaxies he saw. ===== IC 738. See NGC 3915. ===== IC 739. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Though he claimed it to be BD +24 2401, it is actually +24 2403. When we re-reduce his observation using the correct star, his position falls within a few arcsec of the modern data for UGC 6830. ===== IC 740 = NGC 3913, which see. ===== IC 755 = NGC 4019, which see. ===== IC 757 = NGC 4068. Bigourdan misread his micrometer so that his position angle is 180 degrees out -- his "new" object is southeast of his comparison star, not northwest. Curiously, he made the same mistake on two objects -- the star that he mistook for NGC 4068 as well as his "nova" -- on two nights. His observations on a third night were interrupted by a storm. While he was preparing the manuscript of his big table for publication, he noticed the mistaken position angles and commented that the observations as recorded in his log book would be impossible at the declination of the objects. Once the correction is made, his position ends up within a few arcsec of a star superposed on NGC 4068, and his description ("Uncertain traces of nebulosity to one side of a * 12: the nebulosity follows this star."). This same star marks the position given for the galaxy in several more recent lists, too. The center of the outer isophotes of the low-surface-brightness dwarf galaxy is about 10 arcsec northeast of the star. A few arcsec further on is a faint knot or, perhaps, the nucleus. ===== IC 759 has to be marked "not found." This is another of only seven of Bigourdan's new objects for which he provides no details in his big tables of differential positions (see IC 532 for a general note on these objects). The only information we have comes from his Appendix VII in his Introductory volume, his second list of new nebulae published in "Comptes rendus", and the first IC, which Dreyer, of course, took from the "Comptes rendus" list. The NGC description reads "pB, pL, Epf." In Appendix VII, we also find that the magnitude is 12.7, and a remark, "Fausse image?" Added to this is the information that Bigourdan apparently found this while observing NGC 4086 -- but he provides no differential positions for that object, either. So, the possibilities come down to these: 1) Was this perhaps a false image caused by a reflection from SAO 082124 (at about the same declination)? 2) is the object actually NGC 4086? or 3) is it the faint galaxy at 12 02 41.9, +20 35 21 (B1950.0). None of these seem particularly likely. Finally, to finish with a curious "coincidence," Bigourdan dates this discovery to 23 March 1887, the same evening on which he found IC 532 and IC 543 (which see). Bad seeing, maybe? Lost observing book? There are any number of possibilities. ----- In August 2016, I finally found Bigourdan's original observation in his Appendix VIII, the "Complementary Measures". He has the object -4.69 seconds and -2' 11.8" from HD 104958 = SAO 082124. There is nothing in this position. He has this to say about the object: "Pretty extended nebula, irregular, elongated at 99 degrees, and with [diameters] 1.5 [arcmin] x 40 [arcsec]; it is diffuse, slightly brighter towards the center, without a nucleus. It is not amenable to precise measurement." He also observed NGC 4090 on the same night, using the same comparison star. His position for that galaxy, from two measurements, is within 2 arcseconds of the modern position. I suppose he could have confused his stars, but this seems very unlikely. His final assessment "Fausse image?" is certainly correct, but tells us nothing about what he actually saw. See my previous speculation just above. In any event, IC 759 does not exist. ===== IC 765 may be the star 10-12 arcsec southeast of Bigourdan's position. He has only one observation of the object, using NGC 4152 as the comparison object. Oddly, his position for N4152 in his big table is nearly 6 arcmin off, but the position for IC 765 in his list of novae is correct. Dreyer also copied it correctly into IC1 -- but there is still nothing there. Carlson has this as a double star. I suspect that the second star is the one an arcmin or so further southeast. But this is too wide to have been mistaken for a nebula by Bigourdan, and since he says nothing about stars near his nebula, I suspect that both stars are just a bit too faint to have been seen by him. In any event, I've put the first star in my position list as a possibility, but I think that IC 765, too, is "not found." ===== IC 772 = IC 3067. Bigourdan's coarsely reduced position in IC1 was not good enough to alert Javelle 15 years later -- or Dreyer five years after that -- that the nebula had already been found. Also, Javelle's north polar distance offset has the wrong sign, throwing his position off the galaxy, too, and even further from Bigourdan's position. Hence, two IC numbers. There are also two other galaxies nearby that might confuse the identification problems for these two numbers were it not for the fact that both observers nailed the object to within five arcseconds when their observations are reduced using Tycho-2 data for their comparison stars. There is no doubt about the identity. ===== IC 778 = NGC 4198. Swift's position is exactly 5 minutes of time too large. Otherwise, his observation matches N4198 very well. Curiously, however, he notes that the star to the north is 13th magnitude, while the star south of the galaxy is the brighter of the two. Did he confuse his directions as well as the RA? I'd have thought that an observer would call special attention to the brighter of a pair of stars rather than the fainter. ===== IC 788 = NGC 4405. This identity was first suggested at Harvard, probably by Frost or Ames during their work on the Virgo Cluster. That it is, in fact, correct is shown when Javelle's observation is carefully reduced -- the resulting position lands exactly on N4405. Javelle also makes no mention of the NGC galaxy in his list, but does say in a footnote, "Distinct from the nebula which carries the no. 21 in the 7th Catalogue of L. Swift." That 21st nebula is IC 787. So, the note in the IC "II 88 [N4405] south" is almost certainly Dreyer's based only on the relative positions that he had in front of him. In any case, the identity was adopted in CGCG and MCG, so has found its way into the modern catalogues. ===== IC 793 = NGC 4445. IC 793 is the only nebula that Swift found on 6 May 1888. His description, "eF, S, eE; 3 others in field", was adopted almost unchanged by Dreyer for the first IC, so offers no clues beyond what we have in the IC itself. Swift's position precedes N4445 by about 15 seconds of time, and his description suggests that he certainly saw the same galaxy as d'Arrest. My guess is that Swift did not have either the NGC or d'Arrest's monograph in hand when he prepared his 8th list for AN, so he really did believe that the nebula was a "nova." Since the galaxy is in a moderately rich part of the Virgo Cluster, Swift's other three nebulae are probably also nearby NGC galaxies, most likely N4424, N4442, and N4451. If Swift did not have d'Arrest's monograph, I'm a bit surprised that he did not include N4424 and N4451 in his 8th list, given that neither was recorded by the Herschel's. Perhaps (pure speculation) he was clouded out before he could estimate positions for them. ===== IC 799 = NGC 4520. WH's position precedes the galaxy, while Swift's follows it; this probably accounts for Swift's belief that he found a new nebula. Both observers noted stars involved with or close to the galaxy. WH probably mistook the nucleus as one star and picked up the one just to the west as his second, while Swift suspected only that western star. ===== IC 801. Swift's description is brief: "eeF, S, R, * close n". (His position, by the way, is good, so the identification is secure.) Assuming that the star is the one superposed on the corona, it is south, not north. However, keeping in mind Swift's very large field -- 33 arcmin -- it is just possible that one of the three stars within five arcmin to the northwest is the one Swift mentioned. ===== IC 802 is a star. Bigourdan saw it only one night when he was trying to find NGC 4572 (which see). His observation under that number also refers to a star, just about as far south of the galaxy as this star is north. In his description, he notes (a free translation), "It could well be only a star." He's right. ===== IC 803 = Arp 149 (among other names; see NED). This is an interacting system with at least four components. Javelle has it as "eF, S, ill-defined, at the limit of visibility." Curiosity drove the question of which of the four components he measured, given the obvious difficulty he had in seeing the thing. His position, re-reduced with a modern position (from UCAC4) and proper motions for his comparison star, suggests that he chose a point near the second-brightest component close to the mean position for the four. Did he actually see a condensation there, or was it just the best he could do while pushing his optics to the limit? I suspect the latter since he does not mention a condensation. ===== IC 805 = NGC 4611. Neither Swift nor Dreyer recognized the identity even though Swift's position is only 9 seconds west and 0.5 arcmin north of Stephan's. Perhaps the different notes about neighboring stars (Stephan: "... between two very faint stars." Swift: "... two pB stars north and north-following." Both notes are correct, by the way.) misled both astronomers. Stephan also notes that the galaxy is "... a little extended southeast-northwest," while Swift simply has "round." In any event, the two numbers apply to the same galaxy. ===== IC 808 is only two neighboring stars mistaken by Bigourdan for a slightly nebulous cluster. The galaxy identified by Wolf in his sixth list of nebulae as IC 808 is much too faint for Bigourdan to have seen. Wolf's position and comment "* 11 s 1 arcmin" clearly identify his object, just as Bigourdan's position points exactly at the following (slightly brighter) of the two stars. ===== IC 809 = IC 3672 was first found by Lewis Swift on 6 May 1888. His position is good, and his description, "eF, pS, R; bet 2 sts; all 3 point to [NGC] 4621" is appropriate for the galaxy and the field around it. NGC 4621 (M59) is about 6.5 arcminutes to the south-southeast, well within Swift's 32-arcminute field. Schwassmann was the next to publish a position and description for the galaxy and included it in his 1902 Virgo Cluster list as number 213. He has two positions for the galaxy, and the resultant mean position is close to the modern ones. The appearance on the plates ("vF, vS" and "F, S, R, li * 12") is consistent with Swift's visual impression. Up to this point, the equality of the two objects probably would not have been questioned by Dreyer. However, Frost, in his examination of a Harvard plate of the Virgo area, has two objects listed here. He equates the northern of them with IC 809 and describes it as "vF, R, d 0.'1 (I.C. 809, Sw. VII)". The first problem here is the note "d[ouble] 0.'1" which the galaxy is not; no image I've seen has the object as a double galaxy. Is there perhaps a defect on Frost's plate? His second problem: his position is about 4 arcminutes north of Swift's, near VCC 1909. While it is just possible that he picked up the fainter galaxy, it is a 16th magnitude, low surface brightness dwarf, unlikely to show up on the early Harvard plate. This should be checked, of course, once the scans of these plates are available online. Frost's second object is 4 arcminutes south of the northern. Frost makes it simply "bM, magn. 13 (Sch. 213)", and his position is close to Schwassmann's, so this may be the real image of IC 809. My own hypothesis is that Frost's northern object, which he took to be IC 809, is actually a plate defect. This would account for its peculiar description. This, of course, can be checked with the original plate. In any case, Frost's southern object, which Dreyer took to be new, is clearly identical to Swift's nebula. So, the identity of IC 809 and IC 3672 is pretty well established. ===== IC 811 = NGC 4663. Bigourdan found the galaxy in 1888, too late for inclusion in the NGC, but it did make IC1. Its position there is different enough from Tempel's estimated one for N4663 that Dreyer included it without hesitation. Turning to Bigourdan's big tables, though, we find entries for both numbers. That for IC 811 has just two measurements on 13 May 1888. The mean offsets are +19.19 seconds in RA, and -7 arcmin 01.2 arcsec from a star identified as "A.G. Wien-Ott. 4631" which has an accurate and precisely given position. On 8 May eight years later, he has four measurements for NGC 4663. The mean values are +19.15 seconds in RA, and -7 arcmin 01.7 arcsec from the same star. Bigourdan has no notes about the two observations being for the same galaxy. I suspect the reason that he did not notice this is that the data are on successive pages of the table. I also suspect that Bigourdan did not prepare all the data for publication himself, but had help from one or more of the several people hired as "computers" at the Paris Observatory. They would have churned through the numbers as quickly as possible. Had they noticed the identical measurements, I suspect that they would have mentioned them. In any event, the NGC position is a bit off. Dreyer cobbled it up from Tempel's discovery note, which (roughly translated by me) reads, "About 8 arcmin south following NGC 4658 is a small, very faint (WH class III) nebula; it itself precedes a star 13-14 mag; a measure by me with the ring micrometer came to nothing." (I presume that the galaxy was too faint for him to measure accurately, or too far from the comparison star.) The galaxy is actually 7.2 arcmin south-southeast of N4658. This puts the nominal position far enough off that Bigourdan, taking it literally, found nothing where he was expecting it. However, just a few arcmin away just happened to be this small, faint nebula ... The identity was apparently first noticed by the Mt. Wilson observers, and was copied into RC1 and MCG from there. ===== IC 815 is not IC 3760, though some lists -- notably Adelaide Ames's Virgo Cluster catalogue of 1930 -- equate them. Frost has both objects in his list, and places them about 1.5 arcmin apart. His positions, however, are given with a precision of only an arcminute. So, the actual separation, just over an arcminute, is well within his nominal error, and the two galaxies are clearly separate objects. GSC includes them both, and I've listed them as separate objects in my tables. ===== IC 816. See IC 817 = IC 3764. ===== IC 817 = IC 3764. Schwassmann's position is accurate, and -- surprisingly -- so is Swift's. This hasn't prevented confusion in the area, though, as IC 816 is close preceding (and a bit south; Swift's notes have the relative positions flipped north to south -- IC 817 is "nf of 2", not "sf"). Ames has incorrectly equated IC 816 with IC 3764. I wonder if Swift has mixed up his notes on IC 816 and 817. I817 is the fainter galaxy, and has the wide double star only 4 arcmin northwest. Yet Swift calls I816 the fainter of the pair and mentions the star in its description. And there is the nf/sf switch, too. So, I wonder ... ===== IC 819 and IC 820 are together identical to NGC 4676. Spitaler has the two IC objects as new discoveries about 1m 12s preceding an 8th magnitude star which he identified correctly. He has measured the offsets micrometrically, so we'd expect his resulting positions to be quite good. However, the actual offsets are 2m 12s preceding the star. Spitaler has either misread his micrometer, or made a transcription error. Once that is corrected, the identity is not in doubt. ===== IC 823 is probably the star about 1.5 arcmin southwest of NGC 4692. In his list published in Contes Rendues, Bigourdan says "Suspected near NGC 4692 at p = 220 deg, d = 1.5'", a comment that Dreyer changed to "Susp, 2' s of II 381" for the IC. Unfortunately, there is a star in both places, so the southern one was chosen by Wolfgang, and -- in an earlier attempt at finding this object -- by me. However, Bigourdan's reduced position, from a single observation in 1885, is about 2 arcmin to the southwest of the galaxy, and falls on an empty patch of sky. The star he probably glimpsed is 20 arcsec directly north. His description from his big table "Suspected only; could be nebulous" is similar to that for other stars he found, so I've adopted the star -- with a cautionary colon -- as IC 823. ===== IC 824 = NGC 4678. Here the fault lies with the NGC position from the second Leander McCormick list -- the RA is 3 minutes of time off. Otherwise the description pretty well matches, including the "* f 2s." Javelle's position (re-reduced with respect to the Tycho-2 position for his comparison star) is very good, and he apparently had a better view of the galaxy than did Frank Leavenworth. Javelle noted that the galaxy was extended east-west, and that it has at least two bright "nuclei," clearly a reference to the galaxy and its somewhat fainter companion just to the west. Leavenworth even questions its nebular character. Given the chronically poor positions from Leander McCormick, I don't doubt that the two catalogue numbers refer to the same galaxy. ===== IC 825. This is probably the object picked up 95 years after Swift's observation as IRAS F12477-0505. Swift's position is not too bad, and his description ("eeeF, pS, R; nearly bet 2 sts east and west; 2nd of 3; [NGC] 4705 and 4718 near") is appropriate -- except for the "nearly bet 2 sts" phrase. This does not match the IRAS galaxy (a peculiar double or triple system) which has a star only to the east. It does, however, fit NGC 4718 perfectly. Is it possible that Swift confused his observing notes between the two objects? So, is it possible that his "nova" is actually NGC 4718 itself? If so, the mystery phrase becomes "2nd of 3" as N4718 is the third of the trio, not the second. Occam's Razor: take the IRAS galaxy, but include the identity with N4718 as a questionable possibility. ----- A quick note on the IRAS galaxy: The PanSTARRS image shows a patchy irregular galaxy with a very bright blue, almost stellar object on its western edge. This reminds me of NGC 1569 (which see) with its (at least) two bright clusters, though the object in this IRAS candidate for IC 825 is considerably brighter relative to the galaxy than are the objects in NGC 1569. It is, of course, possibly a foreground star, but is very blue and the Galactic latitude is high enough that blue stars are rare in the area. NED has no specific information on this galaxy, so it is a candidate for a detailed study. ===== IC 829 is in the core of Abell 1631, and is one of the brightest galaxies in the cluster. Unfortunately, it is misidentified in MCG, and therefore in PGC as well. Bigourdan's offsets clearly point at the following galaxy of a close pair, while MCG chose a third galaxy 5.5 seconds of time following. ===== IC 833. The skeptic in me has been overly active of late. Here's a case: the galaxy that is obvious to take as IC 833 is within an arcminute of Swift's position, and is a dead ringer for his description, "vF, S, R". On the face of it, there is no problem at all. However, just five arcmin south of the faint, little galaxy that is so "obviously" the one that Swift saw, there is another nearly 2.5 magnitudes brighter, NGC 4813. Swift makes no mention of this in his very brief description, yet this would have been an outstanding object in his 32-arcmin field were it centered on the fainter galaxy. As Malcolm has pointed out, a five-arcminute separation often appears elsewhere in Swift's observations described as "near" or "close". So, I wonder, is NGC 4813 actually the object that Swift saw? But that's all I can really do -- wonder. What there is to go on, the entry in Swift's 8th list, points directly at the little guy. Maybe Swift really did see it, and I'm just being stroppy. But maybe, just maybe ... So, I've sprinkled some colons and question marks around. ===== IC 834. Dreyer has a note in the 2nd IC indicating an erroneous RA in Spitaler's original position. His source is Wolf's third list of nebulae from Heidelburg. Unfortunately, there is no object in Wolf's third list at the position of I834 (which is about 1.5 arcmin north of the IC position), so I do not know which object in WIII Dreyer was looking at. ===== IC 838 has occasionally been called "NGC 4849A" in the astronomical literature. As far as I can tell, this started with RNGC which also has it (correctly) as Holmberg 495b. MCG and the Reference Catalogues have it right, but note that CGCG assigns the IC number to NGC 4849 itself. Actually, the confusion starts with Spitaler's discovery note. He says of his own "Nova 61" (a free translation by me with the vital assistance of a German dictionary), "Probably identical with d'Arrest's nova NGC 4849. North- northeast from this nebula about 1 1/2 arcmin distant is another nebula, but much fainter; both together form a nice double nebula." Dreyer, fortunately, recoginized that Spitaler was correct in his surmise that Spitaler's "Nova 61" was in fact NGC 4849, so picked up the northern object as IC 838. There is additional confusion here; see NGC 4849 and IC 3935 for that. ===== IC 839 is a galaxy just where Bigourdan observed it, though it has been equated in the past with one or the other of the components of NGC 4851. Bigourdan's position for the IC object, reduced with respect to the GSC position for his reference star, falls within a few arcsec of the GSC position for the galaxy. ===== IC 841. In his sixth list, Wolf questions the identity of the galaxy he inserted under this number. He got the right object. ===== IC 842. See IC 843 and NGC 4912. ===== IC 843 = CGCG 160-102 = UGC 08140. This is probably also identical with NGC 4913 and IC 4088. Courtney Seligman has pointed out that the postions for IC 842 and IC 843 are within an arcminute or so of galaxies that Truman Henry Safford could have easily seen with the 18.5-inch Clark refractor at Dearborn Observatory, but that the identification of IC 843 with another galaxy five arcminutes north is almost certainly wrong. The modern catalogues, starting with CGCG, got IC 842 right, but not IC 843. As Courtney noted, the latter number was put on an equally bright galaxy five arcminutes north of Safford's apparently intended object. The reason for this may be that the southern galaxy already had an IC number, IC 4088 (ironically, this number on this galaxy is not quite certain; see IC 4088 for the story) -- or it may simply be a mistake. Here are some details. Safford found both galaxies on 3 May 1866. His position for IC 842 is given to 0.1 seconds of time and 0.1 arcminutes, so he thought that this position at least was fairly reliable (the RA is off by 0.8 seconds, and the Dec by one arcminute, 28 arcseconds). His position for IC 843 is less precise -- given to only a full second of time and a full arcminute -- but is virtually as accurate: it is 5 1/3 seconds off in RA, and 40 arcseconds in Dec. Safford's scanty descriptions, "pF" for IC 842 and "FbN" for IC 843, match these two galaxies well enough. This galaxy is probably also be NGC 4913 and IC 4088. See the discussions under NGC 4912 and IC 4088 for those stories, also inspired by recent email discussions with Courtney. ===== IC 845. Dreyer copies Swift's question mark on the declination into the IC. The declination is not too bad -- only 2 arcmin or so out. Swift's RA, however, is 22 seconds too far east. Aside from that, his description, including the "F * nr p" (the star is 3 arcmin west) is appropriate for the galaxy. The CGCG includes a faint companion about an arcmin to the east-southeast in the magnitude. A couple of faint stars must also be included. ===== IC 847 = NGC 4973. Swift's original position -- though not the IC position -- lands within an arcminute of NGC 4973, and his description ("vF, S, R, between 2 stars") fits, too. Interestingly, Howe (in MN 61, 29, 1900) states, "The description `between 2 stars' given in the Index Catalogue, I cannot verify from my sketch of the field of view." One possibility is that Howe's field was much smaller than Swift's unusually large one of 33 arcminutes. The two stars are 9 arcmin apart, perhaps separated enough that Howe overlooked one of them. However, there is another more likely possibility: Howe was examining the wrong galaxy. His position for N4973 is almost identical to Swift's for I847, yet Howe listed it in his third list of "new" nebulae. Why did Howe mistake N4974 for I847? Dreyer made a mistake in precessing Swift's RA of I847 so that the IC RA is 30 seconds too large. This puts I847 so close to N4974 that Dreyer mistakenly equated the two when he got Reumker's correction to the positions of N4973 and N4974 (see N4967 for more discussion of the NGC objects). Howe obviously had not seen Reumker's corrections, though, or he would have realized that his "new" nebula was identical to N4973. This suggests that he thought that the nebula (which we now know as N4974) was I847. This would easily explain why he did not see Swift's stars: N4974 is not between two stars. Whatever the source of Howe's confusion, it's clear that Swift saw one of the galaxies that William Herschel had discovered a century earlier. Again, assuming Swift's position to be good in this case, that galaxy was probably N4973. ===== IC 853 = IC 4205, which see. ===== IC 864 and IC 866 are the northern-most two galaxies in a group of eight, seven with IC numbers from Swift and Javelle. Swift swept over the area in April of 1889, and Javelle followed in June of 1891. Javelle's positions are, of course, much better (but see IC 869 for a bit of a mystery), and there is little doubt as to which galaxies he saw. Swift's positions, from his 8th list, are -- as is not uncommon -- not good enough to unambiguously identify the objects he found. Making the assumption that he saw the brightest five of the group, we can, however, make some pretty good guesses. His descriptions are no help; four of the five are simply "eeF, pS, R". For the last one, however, he adds a comment about "4 pB sts in a curve sf point to the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th." There is indeed a curved line of four stars south of the group. Assuming that this curve continues on through the four galaxies he names -- with only the 2nd object off the curve -- we have another way to identify the objects. This leads us to the following identifications: List 8, number 68 is IC 864, L8N69 = IC 866, L8N70 = IC 867, L8N71 = IC 868, and L8N72 = IC 870. While these are not certain, they are reasonable given Swift's positions, the brightnesses of the galaxies, and the clue from the line of stars. Some additional notes: IC 868 and IC 870 are pretty clearly the close pair of galaxies on the southern edge of the group. These are the 1st and 3rd brightest in the group. Also, Swift comments that his "4th of 5" is a double with the 5th. Next, if Swift's relative positions are at all indicative, the 4th brightest, IC 867, is pretty clearly the 3rd of his five. This finally gets us to IC 864 and IC 866. Swift makes the relative positions just 2 arcmin apart in Dec; his RA is the same. However, on the sky, the 5th and 2nd brightest galaxies have nearly the same declination (only 4.3 arcsec different), but are separated in RA by just about 2 arcmin (1.94 arcmin to be exact). Perhaps Swift simply made a mistake in his observing notes or in his transcription of them. Whatever happened, these are the only two galaxies in the area that he might have seen, so we'll assume that he did indeed see them. That being the case, we must move Swift's name off the IC entry for IC 869 and put it on IC 864. ----- I've re-written the above a bit, modifying the original text in May 2017 with a few notes that I hope will clarify my thoughts on the situation. I thank Gary Kronk for the impetus to re-examine this field. ===== IC 866. There is no doubt about Javelle's identification of this object. However, see IC 864 for the uncertainty surrounding Swift's observations. IC 869 has more about Javelle's. ===== IC 867. As with the other group members, there is some uncertainty about Swift's observations of this. See IC 864 for more. Javelle's data are thankfully unambiguous on this object. See IC 869 for more about Javelle's micrometric observations in the group. ===== IC 868. This is one of two galaxies in the group clearly identified by Swift's note, "D with 5th [brightest]". See IC 864 for more about Swift's observations. IC 869 has more notes about Javelle's data for galaxies in the group. ===== IC 869 probably refers to both galaxies near Javelle's position. When that is corrected for a systematic offset seen in the other positions for the group galaxies (IC 864, 866-868, and 870), it falls very nearly midway between the two objects. Since they are about 30 arcsec apart, and both have small, bright nuclei, though, I would have expected Javelle to "resolve" them. Javelle's description "Faint, small, round, with little condensation" doesn't help us much at all. Still, it's clear that he saw something here, so I've used the IC number on both objects with positional suffixes. Since these are among the fainter galaxies in the group, Swift did not pick them up. See my comments on the other objects for more about Swift's observations. ===== IC 870 forms a close pair with IC 868 (which see). IC 864 and IC 869 have more information about the other group members. ===== IC 872, 877, 878, and 880. Swift recorded four new nebulae on 28 April 1891, one said in his description to be preceding, and the other three following, NGC 5060. Yet his positions put all of them at least a minute of time following the NGC galaxy. Except for the first, for which there are two candidates, none of the positions, as printed or "corrected" by a minute of time, has any galaxies or asterisms at all close. In particular, if his relative positions and descriptions of the following three objects were correct, there would be -- at least -- a striking triplet of galaxies in the area. But there isn't. Instead, there are three individual galaxies: NGC 5060, very close to its position measured by d'Arrest (who discovered it); UGC 8349, 11 seconds preceding the corrected position for IC 872; and UGC 8361, 6 seconds following and 1.5 arcmin south of Swift's printed position for IC 872. Given that Swift includes the note about NGC 5060 in his description for IC 872, and that, for the only other nebula he found that night (IC 1016, which see), the RA is 1m 18s too large, I think that UGC 8349 is IC 872. But UGC 8361 is just as large and bright -- and therefore presumably as visible -- as UGC 8349, so I've listed it as a possibility for IC 872, also. But for the other three, I see no reasonable candidates. I'm afraid that they, like many other of Swift's discoveries, are lost. ===== IC 877. See IC 872. ===== IC 878. See IC 872. ===== IC 879 = IC 4222, which see. ===== IC 880. See IC 872. ===== IC 884 and IC 887 were included in an appendix to the NGC, written after the main body of the catalogue had gone to press. Swift had somehow not included their positions and descriptions in the letters that he sent to Dreyer that Dreyer adopted for Swift's sixth list, finally published in its entirety while the NGC was in press. IC 887, but not IC 884, also appeared in Swift's seventh list. The positions for IC 887 in the appendix and in the sixth list agree. But those for IC 884 do not: the appendix -- and the first IC -- make the RA 1m larger than Swift's sixth list. Unfortunately, there are no galaxies at either position. Nor is there one at the position of IC 887 which is claimed to be "vF, vS; nearly bet 2 sts; [GC] 3517 [N5119] nr np." There are no galaxies near southeast of N5119 that Swift could have seen. I suspect he misidentified the NGC object, but I've not yet galaxies in the area that might be Swift's pair. Swift found three other galaxies the same night: NGC 3443, N3474, and N5122. With the exception of the declination for N3443 (8.3 arcmin too small), the positions for these three are not too bad. They average 7 seconds of time preceding and 0.3 arcmin south of the true positions, so give us no indication of a systematic offset. Even if we include the large declination error for N3443, we still have no real clues as to where Swift's other two objects might be. I personally think that he found two nebulae in the fairly rich area around NGC 5070 and NGC 5072, but I've been unable to find two reasonable candidates. So, two more of Swift's "novae" have to be declared lost, at least for now. ===== IC 887. See IC 884. ===== IC 888 = NGC 5136. Swift's position for IC 888, from his 8th list of "new" nebulae, is within 3 seconds of being exactly 1 minute of time off the NGC position (from the Herschels). Swift's description fits the object, so I suspect that he simply made a 1 minute error when reading the position from his setting circles. Another, though more remote, possibility for the identity of the IC object is CGCG 072-073. This has the correct right ascension, but the declination is 26 arcmin off and the object is considerably fainter than NGC 5136. Swift could have seen it -- but the 1 time-minute error for the brighter galaxy is more compelling. ===== IC 895 = NGC 5273. Here is my previous note on the object: [This] is lost -- unless it is an observation of NGC 5240. But neither Swift's description nor position fits the galaxy. In particular, the position is well off in both RA and Dec, and is not a digit error. Swift's comment "* in center ? D" (which Dreyer took to mean "sbM, D?"; could it be "* in center? D") does not fit N5240, either. The other three nebulae that Swift found the night of 1 September 1888 don't help at all with possible systematic offsets. Only one, IC 511, is near its nominal position, and Swift got the direction of a nearby "wide D *" wrong -- it is northwest, not southeast as Swift has it. The other two objects (IC 1028 and IC 1045, both of which see) are nowhere near their catalogued positions, and IC 1045 may well be lost, too. In August 2017, Steve Gottlieb suggested in an email that Swift's object has a -10 minute error in its RA, and that it is actually NGC 5273. The position is nearly an exact match to the NGC galaxy, and Swift's description -- in full, it reads "vF, pL, R, * in center ? D." -- is also appropriate. The "D" or "?D" remains a bit of a mystery unless, as Steve suggests, it refers to NGC 5276 just 3.4 arcminutes to the southeast. I wonder a bit about this -- the companion galaxy is far enough away to suggest that Swift might have mentioned it specifically if he had indeed seen it. In any case, identical -10 arcminute errors in the postions for IC 1028 and IC 1045, and probably also in the RA for IC 511, all found by Swift on the same night, assure us that NGC 5273 is indeed the galaxy that he observed. ===== IC 897. This number has almost always been applied to UGC 8544 = CGCG 102-016. However, Malcolm Thomson pointed out that Bigourdan's original description includes the note "Situated near NGC 5217 at PA = 105 deg, d = 3.5 arcmin." Since UGC 8544 is over 8 arcmin south of N5217, there is clearly something strange going on. That strange thing is simply that Bigourdan misidentified his comparison star. Instead of using BD +18 2750 as he did for N5217, he actually used BD +18 2754. When his measurements are reduced with respect to that star, they fall within about 12 arcsec of the closer companion of N5217. That brings up another question, however. Bigourdan's micrometric measurements are usually much closer to the mark than 12 arcsec. Curiously, his measurements of N5217 are also well off the galaxy, and in the same direction. In both cases, he has more than one measurement, and they are in accord with one another. I have not been able to work out his error, but there clearly is one somewhere in his observations of this pair on the night of 20 May 1890. In any event, the identification of IC 897 is now correct, thanks to Malcolm's diligence. ===== IC 907 is almost certainly UGC 8643. This identity was first suggested in CGCG, and is reasonable. The RA's are the same to well within Swift's usual error, and his Dec is just 20 arcmin off. This is probably a digit error. ===== IC 917 may be a star, but its companions (IC 918, 919, 921-3, 925, 926, 928-32, and 934-38) are galaxies in Abell 1783. These were found by Burnham with the Lick 36-inch refractor in 1890. Barnard provides crude positions for them in AN 125, 380, 1890, copied correctly into the first IC. Barnard's positions and descriptions are not clear enough to positively identify more than four or five of the 18 galaxies in his table. One, IC 919, is called "cB" while the others are "vF" or "faint" and "vS, R." There are two pairs noted: I923 and I925, and I937 and I938. However, the positions imply the existence of two other pairs: I918 and I919, and I934 and I936. Faced with this puzzle, I wrote to Don Osterbrock at Lick to ask if Burnham's or Barnard's original observations are still extant. They are, but they turn out to be even more sketchy than the AN article, so are no help. Brent Archinal reports that Leos Ondra who, during an extended visit to several US observatories, has found that Barnard's original observing books at Yerkes are still kept in the library there. These may not help solve a mystery originating in the 36-inch dome at Lick, but they might be usefully examined, anyhow. All we can do now, however, is to assign the numbers, in approximate order of right ascension as given in AN, to the brightest 18 objects in the cluster, paying attention to the declinations when we can, as well as to the meager clues given in the descriptions. As I noted above, it seems likely that IC 917 is a star, but the remainder of the numbers can be assigned to galaxies without too much bending of Barnard's positions. However, I have to make it clear that there is a lot of guesswork going on here, and that these identifications really are tentative, pending uncovering more information. Hubble, by the way, in his PhD thesis at the University of Chicago (Publ. Yerkes Obs. IV, Part II, 1917) describes this area and lists positions of some of the galaxies in the field. He listed tentative identifications for only three of the galaxies: IC 921, IC 925, and IC 938. The identifications that I've adopted agree with Hubble's for IC 921 and IC 938, but not for IC 925: Hubble has this as the galaxy at 13 43 14.1, +55 36 11 = my IC 923, while I have the galaxy at 13 43 16.1, +55 36 36 as IC 925. Malcolm and Wolfgang also assign different IC numbers to different galaxies in the cluster. See their notes and tables for their interpretations. ===== IC 918. See IC 917. ===== IC 919. See IC 917. ===== IC 921. See IC 917. ===== IC 922. See IC 917. ===== IC 923. See IC 917. ===== IC 925. See IC 917. ===== IC 926. See IC 917. ===== IC 928. See IC 917. ===== IC 929. See IC 917. ===== IC 930. See IC 917. ===== IC 931. See IC 917. ===== IC 932. See IC 917. ===== IC 934. See IC 917. ===== IC 935. See IC 917. ===== IC 936. See IC 917. ===== IC 937. See IC 917. ===== IC 938. See IC 917. ===== IC 945 is almost certainly UGC 8732 = CGCG 336-018. This is twice as large and twice as bright as CGCG 336-019, the galaxy identified in CGCG as IC 945. Swift's original position -- that copied correctly into the IC -- is much closer to the fainter galaxy, and his note of a "coarse D * nf points to it" could apply to either object. However, the idea that he should sweep up the fainter object while missing the brighter one just 3 arcmin away is difficult to accept (but see IC 997 and IC 998). ===== IC 953, IC 955, and IC 957 are lost, probably irretrievably. They are among Ormond Stone's novae in the extensive list of micrometric observations of nebulae published by the Leander McCormick observers in 1893. Apparently found during an observation of "GC 3697" (= NGC 5357), all four nebulae have several observations each, all referred to two stars. Thus, it is possible to lay out the relative positions of the nebulae and stars to form a clear picture of the field. This pattern is nowhere to be found near N5357. N5357 is probably an outlying member of the IC 4329 Group. I had the thought that the nebulae might be four in the core of the group. But the clear pattern of the four nebulae and two stars is not duplicated anywhere in the group. Nor can I find a similar pattern assuming that some of the novae are stars. So, "Not found" is the only reasonable conclusion. Here are some eye-glazing details. While it initially seems likely that Stone misidentified his comparison stars, a closer look at the problem shows that it is not as simple as that. He gives a precise position for one of the stars, and this one can be reliably identified with a GSC star at 13 50 58.01, -30 02 17.8 (B1950.0) -- Stone gives end figures (precessed to 1950.0) of 58.04 and 17.1. However, reducing the measurements that he gives using this star gives positions in empty fields. Furthermore, his observations are not internally consistent: it should be possible to use the measurements from the "known" GSC star to pin down the other star by working through the positions for his nebulae. But this does not work: for the four objects involved, the derived positions for the unknown star (for which he gives only a crude position of 13 50 10, -30 04 again precessed to B1950) are several arcmin apart on the sky. Finally, again assuming that he used the identified GSC star to measure NGC 5357, his micrometric position for that galaxy ought to be close to the GSC position. Instead, the reduced position is 23.8 seconds east, and 1' 17" north of N5357. So, he obviously did not observe N5357. (By the way, Wolfgang picked out a close double star as a possible object for IC 953. While I doubt that this is any of Stone's objects, I've nevertheless retained it in the position table.) At this point, I quit wasting time and went on to the next puzzle. You may have more patience than I. Good luck! ===== IC 955. See IC 953. ===== IC 956. As with the other double galaxies found by Javelle, I'm curious about which one he saw. In this case, the southern of the two objects is brighter, and Javelle's position is a little closer to it -- but not enough in this case to convince me that he saw more than a blur here. That matches his description, too: "eF, vS, below [south of] a 14th magnitude star." The star is there, just to the northeast. ===== IC 957. See IC 953. ===== IC 958 is almost certainly NGC 5360. Swift's description ("eeeF, pS, iR; seen only by glimpses") fits, and his typically crude position is only 3 arcmin away from Marth's galaxy. The only concern I have is that NGC 5364 is in the field -- why didn't Swift mention that, too? So, colons go on the IC number. ----- Yann, in an email in August 2016, questions my argument for NGC 5360. Here is what he has to say: ... I am bothered by the nearby NGC 5364, not mentioned by Swift. So, I propose instead that the galaxy [CGCG 046-033 =] PGC 49845 could be Swift's object, implying a 5.0m digit error in RA [with a further] 7 arcminute [30 seconds] West offset. NGC 5360 has V = 13.7, so would be ... at least deserving a "vF" according to Swift's standards. PGC 49845 is about V = 14.8 ([closer to Swift's] "eeeF" and isolated (explaining the absence of a comment about neighbors). There is also the possibility of a faint double star of m = 15.7+16.4 that could appear nebulous, 6 arcminutes west from Swift's position -- but again, the proximity of NGC 5360 and 5364 should have been noted [by Swift]. Yann's comments on the magnitude and isolation of CGCG 046-033 are well-made, so I have included this galaxy in the position table with the appropriate question marks. I'm not thrilled about the 4m 31s RA offset, but Swift has many stranger (and larger!) errors in his lists. The double star is quite faint, and given its proximity to the galaxies, I too have trouble understanding why Swift did not mention the nearby galaxies. I still think that NGC 5360 is Swift's object. Its low surface brightness would render it less visible than the total magnitude would suggest, and Swift's further "pS, iR" would also fit the galaxy. It is, of course, a bit strange that he did not mention the nearby and much brighter NGC 5364, but Marth, who found NGC 5360, also did not say anything about it. Finally, the position is a bit uncertain. There is no obvious nucleus in the patchy bar, and there may be a very faint reddish star superposed just northeast of one of the blue knots near the bar's center. Both Gaia and Pan-STARRS picked up on this object -- it could just as well be a reddish knot in the bar -- and I've taken it to represent the galaxy. Other digital surveys (2MASS PSC, URAT1, and CMC) pick up two knots in the bar; I've given mean positions for those surveys as well as the individual positions from them for the knots. ===== IC 960 is the northern galaxy of an interacting pair. Javelle's position, re-reduced with the UCAC4 position and proper motion for his comparison star, is within 2 arcsec of the nucleus of the galaxy. His description, "Faint, diffuse, pretty extended with a bit of condensation" is appropriate, too. ===== IC 968 is the southwestern of a pair of galaxies about four arcmin south of NGC 5400. Bigourdan has two measurements of the object; his position falls closer to the brighter of the pair, as one would expect if that is indeed the galaxy he saw. ===== IC 970. This was discovered by Javelle on 24 May 1892, and micrometrically measured with respect to BD +15 2657. In August 2017, Steve Gottlieb found that reducing Javelle's observation using an accurate position and proper motion for the BD star puts the resulting position for the nebula directly on the fainter, southern component -- CGCG 103-048 -- of a pair of galaxies. CGCG 103-049 is the larger, brighter, northern component usually taken as the IC object. There is obviously some confusion here, but so far we've been unable to fully understand Javelle's observation. His micrometric position comes within just 5 arcseconds of the nucleus of the fainter galaxy, yet his description "Pretty bright, nearly round, 10[arcseconds] in diameter" is perfect for the nuclear region of the brighter galaxy. Perhaps Javelle, during his measurement process, had a patch of bad seeing and so mistook the brighter galaxy as a star. Or perhaps he saw both objects, but somehow conflated the micrometric measurement of the fainter and the description of the brighter. Whatever happened, the fact remains that Javelle's measured position falls on the fainter galaxy. Steve suggests calling the entire pair IC 970, but I'm not yet fully comfortable with that. Steve will observe the pair in the spring of 2018. Until he has done that, I'll keep colons and question marks on the number in the IC position table. We will reassess the situation once Steve's visual observation is in hand. ===== IC 973 = NGC 5467 and IC 974 are both stars near NGC 5468. They were found by Bigourdan while he was trying to recover the three "nebulae" seen by Tempel near NGC 5468. Bigourdan somehow became a bit confused by the field, so did not realize immediately that one of his "novae" (IC 973) was the same star that he took to be NGC 5467. He published it in his first Comptes Rendus list, so it got an IC number. He caught the identity later when he was preparing his complete observations for publication. See NGC 5465 for more. ===== IC 974 is probably the star 30 arcsec south of Bigourdan's estimated position. It is a bit fainter than NGC 5467 = IC 973, and would have been at the limit of Bigourdan's telescope. See IC 973 and NGC 5465 for more on this field. ===== IC 990 was probably seen by Dreyer in April 1878. See the galaxy's entry in the "notngc" files. ===== IC 997 and IC 998 are perhaps the brightest and faintest galaxies in a group of four (the others are IC 4401 and MCG -01-37-002). Swift has these two objects entered in two of his lists ("(X)" and XI), but -- guessing here -- I think that he only observed them once, on 16 May 1892. His second "observation," claimed to be on 16 Sept 1896, reported in his long 11th list, looks to me like a hasty updating of the first, though perhaps after a quick second look at the field (it would have been low in the west just after sunset, though, not ideally placed for re-examination). The positions are just 10 seconds of time and 1.4 arcmin different, roughly the numbers one would expect from precession over the 10-year equinox difference (assuming that the short list in MNRAS 53, 273, 1893 has positions given for 1890.0). The descriptions are identical aside from the brightness of IC 997 ("vF" rather than "pF" in the earlier list). In particular, his note about the "star with distant companion near north" is worded the same in both lists. In other re-observations where Swift notes nearby stars, his wording is different (see e.g. NGC 5502 = NGC 5503). Howe has an extensive note about the group (in which he found a third object, IC 4401) in MNRAS 61, 46, 1900. Here he locates and measures the three galaxies that he and Swift saw, as well as the nearby star and its companion. He also notes the identity of Swift's nebulae in the two different lists. I have adopted his identities for the three galaxies -- though with questions. Keep reading. Malcolm has argued pretty persuasively that Swift probably saw the brightest two objects in the group, IC 997 and IC 4401. However, this would make Swift's positions not only further off in absolute terms, but his differences between his two objects would be off, too. Instead of the pretty good agreement with the actual differences of 20 seconds and 2.1 arcmin (Swift has 18 seconds and 1.0 arcmin), the differences would be 35 seconds and 4.2 arcmin. Also, the stars Swift mentions are much further from IC 4401 than they are from IC 997, though still within the 5 arcmin or so that he usually means when he uses the word "near" in his descriptions. Finally, IC 997 and IC 4401 are virtually equal in brightness (and surface brightness, too), while Swift's descriptions are quite different. He says "pF" or "vF" for I997 and "eeF" for I998. The galaxy that Howe and I take as I998 is a magnitude fainter than I997, more in keeping with Swift's descriptions. I also note that Howe saw only three of the four galaxies here, missing the MCG object, in spite of the fact that it is half a magnitude brighter than I998. So, we do indeed have a mystery: how could two seasoned observers miss seeing brighter objects in a group while picking up the faintest? Malcolm's argument is not without a solid basis, so I've put colons and question marks on the identifications. ----- Earlier, I had said the following about the positions: Finally, the accurate positions for the object I've taken as IC 997 are not well-determined in the optical -- the galaxy is an interacting double system with a complex optical structure. The components are clear in the infrared, however, so I've adopted the 2MASS PSC positions as best representing the two objects. With the Carlsberg Meridian, Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1, URAT1, and 6dF lists now (October 2018) available -- and agreeing quite well -- my note about the optical positions is no longer defensible. I've adopted the Pan-STARRS1 positions for the two objects, with the mean taken for the pair. ===== IC 998. See IC 997. ===== IC 1001, IC 1002, and IC 1003. Javelle had trouble in this field on the one night he observed it, 29 June 1892; he misidentified his two comparison stars. Once those are found, however -- the correct stars are BD +6deg 2873 for I1001 and I1002, and +5deg 2873 for I1003 -- his reduced positions fall within 5-6 arcsec of the modern positions for the galaxies. He also notes a "very small" star attached to I1003; this is correct for his galaxy, UGC 9190 = CGCG 047-024. For the record, I1001 = CGCG 047-014, and I1002 = CGCG 047-015. ===== IC 1002. See IC 1001. ===== IC 1003. See IC 1001. ===== IC 1004. MCG incorrectly assigned this number to MCG +03-37-007 = Ho 634a (Ho 634b is a star). Unfortunately, this bug has been picked up in a number of more recent sources. The real IC 1004 is about 3-4 arcmin southwest, and is the brightest of a double or triple system. Its position is very close to Javelle's micrometric position, re-reduced with respect to the GSC position for his comparison star. This is another of Malcolm Thomson's catches. ===== IC 1005 = NGC 5607. Swift's position is a minute of time too small. Otherwise, his description and place matches NGC 5607 to within his usual, rather large, observational error. The fact that he called it "F" means that it is one of the brighter objects that he discovered; this makes the identity all the more certain. This may also be NGC 5620. See that for another story, though Swift is not involved in that one. ===== IC 1007 is almost surely the galaxy listed in the position table; Javelle's micrometric position is within two arcseconds of the modern positions from e.g. Gaia DR2, SDSS, Pan-STARRS, 2MASS, and so on. Yet, as Steve Gottlieb pointed out in an email to me in March 2020, Javelle also mentions a nearby star that apparently no longer exists. His full description reads (translated from the French by me), "Very faint, small, round, 15[arcseconds] in diameter, slightly condensed, near a star of magnitude 10.5." There is no star that bright within fifteen arcminutes of the galaxy. Steve wonders if the star could be an asteroid. But a search of the JPL small-bodies database (https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbfind.cgi) using their search tool set to the correct parameters (Nice Observatory, 17 June 1892, roughly midnight, all asteroids brighter than 16, again within 15 arcminutes of the galaxy) turns up nothing. I had thought that there might have been a supernova in the inner ring of the galaxy (that ring is quite remarkable: it is blue in the SDSS and PS1 images, is rather patchy, and is virtually complete around the red nucleus). I had wondered if Javelle saw a supernova in the ring. Since the distance modulus of the galaxy is about 35.5 (given its redshift; see NED for confirmation), I would expect a Type-Ia supernova to have an apparent magnitude of around 16-17 if it were "normal" with an absolute magnitude of -18 to -19. This is far fainter than Javelle's estimate, so it's *highly* unlikely that his "nearby star" is a supernova. All this leaves us with the question "What did Javelle see that led him to record a "nearby star of magnitude 10.5"? Steve has uncovered another mystery! ===== IC 1008 = IC 4414. This is one of the 52 objects found by T. H. Safford that Dreyer put into the Appendix to the NGC. Later, Dreyer merged them into IC1 so that they would not be overlooked. As with IC 200, there appears to be a rather large error in RA, in this case, +1.5 minutes of time. There are no other galaxies nearby that Safford could have reasonably seen with the 18.5-inch Clark refractor at Dearborn. Given that, and the expectation of a relatively poor position, the identity is pretty secure. Safford gives no description beyond the "pF" that appears in the IC. So, given that the galaxies are approximately of equal brightness -- and are a close interacting pair -- I have put the IC number on both objects. ===== IC 1012 = IC 4431. This is another of the nebulae found by Safford in 1866 using the 18.5-inch Clark refractor at Dearborn Observatory (while testing this telescope, Alvan Clark found Sirius B). Safford's position is +2 arcmin off in declination, and +4 seconds of time off in RA -- not too bad, especially given that there are no other nebulae nearby. Javelle found the galaxy 31 years later. When reduced with respect to the Tycho-2 position for his comparison star, his measurement of the galaxy is off in RA by just about a second, and is spot-on in declination. All in all, there is no doubt about the identity. So why are there two IC numbers? Javelle's published position was reduced from the BD position for his comparison star. The BD position is off by about an arcminute to the south. Safford's position is north of the galaxy, so Dreyer saw a published difference (assuming he checked; I'm sure he did -- he was very careful) of nearly three arcminutes. This was enough that he must have thought that there were two nebulae here. By the way, this is one of the few nebulae for which Javelle has more than one measurement. His two observations differ by 0.78 seconds of time, and 1.3 arcseconds. This gives an idea of the internal accuracy of his data -- not too bad, but not the best that was done visually using micrometers. ===== IC 1016 = IC 4424 = NGC 5619B. Swift found IC 1016 on 28 April 1891, a peculiarly unfortunate night for him. Only two -- IC 872 and I1016 -- of the five nebulae that he found then are identifiable, and both of those were poorly measured by him (see IC 872 for more). IC 1016 is recoverable only because Swift's declination is fairly accurate, as is his description ("vF, vS, R; f of [NGC] 5619"); the RA is 1m 18s too large. Bigourdan found and first measured the object the next year; he remeasured it seven years later. His micrometric observations put the faint galaxy within five arcsec of its true position. Thus, it ended up in IC2 with a pretty good position, compromised only by the imprecise position that Bigourdan adopted for his comparison star. The NGC designation came along nearly four decades later when Holmberg included N5619 and two of its companions in his list of multiple galaxies. RNGC then immortalized it for us as "5619B". ===== IC 1023. This is the only one of five "nebulae" that Juan Thome found while assembling the Cordoba Durchmusterung that may be an actual deep sky object. The others (IC 229, 1203, 1207, and 1290, which see) are either asterisms or do not exist. IC 1023 may be a small cluster of about 20 stars, but it could also be just a chance superposition of unrelated stars. Proper motions, spectra, and photometry will be needed to determine the true character of the grouping. In any event, Thome's position is good. ===== IC 1026 = NGC 5653 is another of the nebulae found by Truman Henry Safford with the 18.5 inch Clark refractor at Dearborn in the late 1860's. Its RA is just one minute of time too large, and Safford's terse description "pB" makes the identity pretty certain. See IC 200, IC 1008, and IC 1030 for other examples of digit errors in RA in Safford's list. ===== IC 1027. Swift comments "... another or a few F sts nr." Howe noted only one star of 13th magnitude 0.7 arcmin southwest of the galaxy, but there are several other faint galaxies in the area. The closest and brightest is 1.7 arcmin north-northeast; is this the other nebula that Swift suspected? ===== IC 1028 = NGC 5739. Here is my previous note: Assuming that the identification (first suggested by CGCG) is correct, [this] is well off its nominal position: +45 seconds in RA and +10.7 arcminutes in declination. There is a "F * close nf", but I would hardly describe the galaxy as "pB, S, R". "Small" it is, but it is faint and elongated. I've saved the identity since the galaxy is the only one in the area that comes even close to fitting both Swift's position and description. For more about Swift's unfortunate night -- one among many -- of 1 September 1888, see IC 895. In August 2017, Steve Gottlieb wrote that Swift's RA for IC 895 (which see) is probably ten minutes of time too small. This error would make that object identical with NGC 5273. Following Steve's suggestion, I applied the same 10-minute error to Swift's position for IC 1028 and found it to be identical to NGC 5739. Swift's description -- including the "F *" -- fits perfectly, and given the simple digit error, I've no doubt that this is the correct object. ===== IC 1029. This galaxy is correctly positioned, named, and described in the first IC -- but see the discussion of it under NGC 5673. ===== IC 1030 = NGC 5672 with a +1 minute error in the RA. This position shares the RA offset in common with several other of Safford's discoveries; see e.g. IC 200, IC 1008, and IC 1026. In this case, Safford's description "pF" is appropriate for the galaxy. ===== IC 1045 = UGC 9559. There is a -10-minute RA error in Swift's position. Here is my previous write-up from the long-ago time before Steve Gottlieb suggested in August 2017 the same error for IC 895, which obviously see. IC 1045 may be NGC 5731 (which is -37 seconds and +2.3 arcmin from Swift's position) -- but that is far from certain: if Swift could see N5731, why could he not see its near-twin, N5730, only a few arcmin distant? Nevertheless, Swift's comments about neighboring stars -- "nearly bet 2 sts, forms triangle with 2 sts" -- are accurate. Since this is the best candidate we have, I've listed it, though with colons. See IC 895 and IC 1028 for more about the other nebulae Swift found this night, 1 September 1888. The problem with my previous note is the comment about the stars near NGC 5731 -- the stars are much further away, and considerably less obvious, than those around UGC 9559. Given that Swift's positions for IC 895 and IC 1028 are also 10 minutes too small, I've no doubt that the identification with the UGC galaxy is correct. ===== IC 1055 = IC 4491, which see. ===== IC 1056 = IC 1057. Swift found I1057 on 8 April 1888 and described it as "eF, pS, R; bet a pB * and a coarse D *, nearer the latter." Sweeping across the same area three months later on 4 July 1888, he found I1056: "eeF, L, R; forms an arc of a small circle with 2 sts; 3 pB sts nr sf in form of arc of a large circle." His positions (14 42 20, +50 50 05 and 14 42 03, +50 51 45, respectively; both for equinox 1890) are far enough apart, and the descriptions different enough that he thought the nebulae different objects. However, both descriptions are correct. The "pB *" about five arcmin south- southeast of the galaxy, is the western-most of the "3 pB sts nr sf" forming an arc. Similarly, the "coarse D *" about three arcmin west, is the two stars with which the nebula forms a smaller arc. ===== IC 1057 = IC 1056, which see. ===== IC 1063 = IC 1064. Javelle found the galaxy twice in 1892, first on 18 May, next on 15 July. His measurements, refered to different stars agree to within seven arcsec. The identity, first suggested by Glen Deen during his work on MicroSky, is not in doubt. ===== IC 1066. This, along with IC 1067, was first seen by R.J. Mitchell in May of 1855. The "notngc" files have the story. ===== IC 1067. This, along with IC 1066, was first seen by R.J. Mitchell in May of 1855. The "notngc" files have the story. ===== IC 1087 is the brighter, but smaller, of a pair of galaxies separated by about 30 arcsec. It is northwest of the larger, UGC 9710. Javelle's measurement from a BD star about five arcmin northeast is very good, and the identity is not in doubt. Also see IC 1088. ===== IC 1088 is a faint star about 1.5 arcmin northeast of IC 1087. Javelle's offsets land within five arcsec of the star, and his measurement of I1087 on the same night is just as good. There is no doubt about the identity. ===== IC 1090 does not exist -- or if it does, it is a very faint star. Bigourdan found the object on 18 June 1887, saying "At the measured position, I suspected a possibly nebulous object at the extreme limit of visibility." He has only one micrometric position for it from the same night, but there is nothing there. About an arcminute to the northwest is a 17th magnitude star. I doubt that Bigourdan could have seen it with the 12.2-inch refractor that he was using, so I favor the nonexistent idea for this observation. Several catalogues have put this number on CGCG 221-022, but that is 1 min 54 sec west of Bigourdan's position, and nowhere near his nominal offsets from any star that Bigourdan would have used as a comparison star. Malcolm Thomson caught this mistake as he has so many others; I'm grateful, as always, for his careful work. ===== IC 1094 is a triple system. Javelle measured the brightest southern component and noted that the object was double, apparently seeing the two northern components as a single nebula. The southern galaxy has a double nucleus, or is perhaps an interacting pair. The two nuclei are separated by only 1.6 arcseconds, so I've taken the object as a single galaxy. Note, however, that the SDSS position is for the northern nucleus and the Gaia position applies to the southern. The position I have finally adopted is from Pan-STARRS1, and is close to a mean of the two. ===== IC 1095 is the brighter component of CGCG 077-019, though since Swift notes it as "lE", it may well be both objects. Swift's position is +20 arcmin in error, but his observation is otherwise not too bad. He also notes a "* 9 mag in field sf"; this star is SAO 101405, and helps to positively identify the object that Swift undoubtedly saw. ===== IC 1096 is one of three galaxies interspersed with several stars, one rather bright. Another of the galaxies is IC 1097, about which there are no identification problems. IC 1096 is usually taken as the brightest of the three. However, Javelle's single observation on 20 July 1892 points directly to the faintest of the three galaxies. He made an observation of IC 1097 a few minutes later on the same night using the same comparison star. That observation points directly at the second-brightest galaxy. So, there is no mistaking the objects that Javelle saw. How did he miss the brightest galaxy? Perhaps it has a lower surface brightness, or perhaps it has a stellar nucleus. Perhaps he did see it, but did not have time to measure it. Whatever happened, we can put IC numbers on only two of the three galaxies -- but not on the brightest one. ----- Looking at the field again in October 2018, I was immediately struck by the relatively bright star just west, BD +19 2828 -- this was Javelle's comparison star for the two galaxies he measured. With a V magnitude of 10.4, this would have been a significant object in the field with the galaxies. Another somewhat fainter star (V = 11.3) is about the same distance northwest of IC 1097 and may have caused further interference with Javelle's observations. ===== IC 1097. See IC 1096. ===== IC 1098 is, as Bigourdan suspected, simply a star. Even though his measurement is rounded off to the nearest second in RA as well as in Dec, the star is close enough, and isolated enough, to make it clear that it is indeed his object. ===== IC 1100 = NGC 5881, which see. ===== IC 1102 is a pair of galaxies colliding. Coincidentally, the two nuclei are very closely aligned and are seen about an arcsecond apart. I've taken the position of the brighter nucleus -- which apparently belongs to the larger galaxy -- as representative of the system. ===== IC 1104 is a star, as I first suspected while assembling SEGC. Bigourdan's single measurement falls within 2 arcsec of the star, so there is no doubt about the identification. ===== IC 1108 = NGC 5882. Both positions are good enough to positively identify this planetary, but several people (Dreyer, Williamina Fleming, Edward Pickering, and Luis Duncker -- whom Fleming and Pickering credit with the discovery of the IC object) missed the identity. The planetary was first seen by JH and recorded by him in two sweeps. He thought enough of it to sketch it and include it among the few of his nebulae with "figures" at the end of his CGH volume. His diameter estimates ("... = 1.35 seconds [of time, = 14.2 arcsec] by many observations", and "4 arcsec diam.") are not very consistent, but he was clearly impressed by the planetary. The object was next picked up on an objective prism plate at Arequipa by Duncker, and was announced by Fleming as an emission-line star in AN 3227. In a second paper in AN 3269, she adds a note that "A superposition of a chart and a spectrum plate ... shows that this object is in reality a gaseous nebula." So, there was plenty of opportunity to identify this with JH's planetary. However, it was apparently not until Andris Lauberts and I stumbled across this while scanning southern Schmidt plates that the identity of the two numbers came to light. The object is called only by its NGC number in Perek and Kohoutek's 1967 catalogue of planetary nebulae, but Andris has it in the ESO list, and I penciled notes in my copy of the NGC and IC. It may be buried in the SGC Notes, too, but I doubt it. ===== IC 1111 = NGC 5876 with a +5 minute error in the RA. Swift calls the object "pB" and notes that it makes a "triangle with 2 stars." The stars are 2 arcmin northwest and 2.5 arcmin southwest. Interestingly, NGC 5876 was one of Swift's earliest discoveries, and was included by him in his first list of new nebulae. CGCG chose a considerably fainter galaxy (UGC 9800 = CGCG 274-037) as IC 1111. This galaxy is indeed closer to Swift's position, but the differences are not simple digits -- 1m 38s, and 2.7 arcmin. There are also no stars nearby that Swift would have noted as a triangle with the galaxy. Unfortunately, this error has propagated through the catalogues, so UZC, LEDA, and Wolfgang Steinicke (in his first NGC/IC edition) have incorrectly put the IC number on the fainter object. ===== IC 1114 is probably a star. Bigourdan has no measurement of it, simply a note in his description that it is at PA = 255 deg, d = 6 arcmin from BD +76 557. There is nothing at that "exact" location, but about an arcminute southeast, there is a star that Bigourdan could have picked up. This is probably his object. ===== IC 1115 is a double star, identified by its proximity to a considerably brighter star about 5 arcmin to the southeast. Otherwise, we might be tempted to take MCG -01-39-005 as the IC object. It, however, has no brighter star to the southeast which would have been in Swift's field of view. The identity, first suggested by Herbert Howe (in MNRAS 58, 515, 1898) who measured and described the double as we see it today on the sky surveys, is therefore pretty certain. There is coincidentally a very faint background galaxy close to the stars, but even Howe, careful observer that he was, could not have dug it out: it is around 17th magnitude. ===== IC 1117. There is some error in Javelle's observation that I haven't worked out yet. The RA is within his usual uncertainties, but the declination is 2.5 arcmin too small. The galaxy I've taken as the IC object matches Javelle's description as he would see it in his big refractor, so this is probably the object he picked up. If Javelle's declination offset is +3' 50.7" rather than +1' 20.7" (note that Javelle works in north polar distance, so his published offset signs are negative rather than positive), the declination of IC 1117 falls within his usual errors of the correct declination for the galaxy. Perhaps this is a some sort of micrometer reading error, perhaps an even turn of the declination screw? It will take some digging in the Nice publications to find the parameters of the micrometer to determine if this hypothesis has any merit. I obviously haven't done that yet. ===== IC 1118 = IC 4543, which see. ===== IC 1120. When I first went over this object, I had this to say about it: [This] is a very faint double or triple galaxy found by Javelle. He noted a star near to the northeast -- this star may actually be a compact galaxy; it appears to be slightly nebulous. But I suspect it really is a star, superposed on a plume or maybe a third galaxy in the faint system. Now (October 2018) with the SDSS image available, it is clear that the object I called a second galaxy is simply the southern arm of the main object; and that the superposed star just to the northeast is, in fact, just a superposed star. There is a very faint background galaxy 0.2 arcminutes to the southwest, but I had not noted that earlier. All this is in the position file, hopefully now sorted out correctly. ===== IC 1122 is not NGC 5931 as is sometimes stated, nor was it seen by Barnard whose position and comment (about a star preceding the galaxy) are adopted by Dreyer for the first IC. Barnard's data apply to NGC 5931. The IC object is a separate galaxy found by Bigourdan about 3 arcmin northwest of NGC 5931. His position, though about 15 arcsec off, is good enough to unambiguously identify the galaxy. See NGC 5931 for more details. ===== IC 1123 is a star. Bigourdan has two observations of this on 15 May 1890 which -- when reduced using the GSC position of his comparison star -- point exactly at the star. ===== IC 1125 is probably also IC 1128, which see. ===== IC 1126 is also a star. Bigourdan has only one observation of it, but his position falls within two arcseconds of the DSS position. Reinmuth has this number equal to NGC 5952, but Malcolm Thompson points out that Bigourdan observed that on the same night as he found IC 1126, and he used the same comparison star for both. Thus, the two cannot be the same. ===== IC 1127 = IC 4553. Just one minute of time east of IC 4553 (which see), and an arcmin south, lies the IC position for I1127. There is nothing at all in this position, though there are 2 or 3 very faint stars just to the north. I1127 was found in 1866 by Safford at Dearborn Observatory, and was first listed in an appendix to the NGC as Safford 7. Dreyer later included these appended objects in the first IC, where this one received the number 1127. Safford's positions are only approximate, having been determined simply by centering the object in the field, then reading the setting circles. Thus, they are often merely indicative and also seem to suffer from digit errors now and then (IC 200 is another example, with its RA being 2 minutes of time off). Since Safford's description (pF) is correct, IC 4553 is almost certainly the object which he saw. ===== IC 1128 is probably IC 1125 with a 5 minute error in RA and a 5 arcmin error in declination. IC 1125 is about a magnitude brighter, and considerably larger, than the galaxy that CGCG took (CGCG 022-018 = UGC 9939). That is close to Swift's RA, but is 12 arcmin to the north, an unusual error for Swift to make. In addition, UGC 9939 has a fairly close companion of nearly the same brightness just a couple of arcmin southwest. If Swift could see UGC 9939 and call it "pF, pS, R", he almost certainly could have seen CGCG 022-017 just as easily. But he makes no mention of it. In addition, there are to the south of this pair two fairly bright stars in the field that Swift might well have put into his description, too. All in all, it seems considerably more likely to me that I1125 is also I1128. I've left it and UGC 9939 in the main table, however, on the off chance that Swift might have picked up the fainter galaxy. For an example where he almost surely did find a fainter object rather than a brighter one, see IC 997 and IC 998. ----- I note here that Gary Kronk favors the 12-arcminute error that leads to UGC 9939. He adds, "... [CGCG 022-017] is small enough that it initially looks like a star" with his telescope. This is enough for me to change the double question mark on this suggested identification to a single query. I still favor the IC 1125 explanation, but cheerfully accept that it could well be incorrect. ===== IC 1130. There is nothing wrong with Bigourdan's single observation of this object on 29 May 1889. His micrometrically measured position is within three arcsec of the nucleus of the galaxy, and his description "vF" is surely appropriate. The "* 8.7 f" mentioned in the IC is his comparison star. What caught my eye here is his note, "... I suspect another still fainter at [PA] = 220 degrees, d = 1.5 - 2 arcmin." There isn't anything at all there aside from some 19th magnitude chaff. He has another observation of I1130 five nights later, but does not mention any accompanying object this time. In fact, he says of I1130 (this is his complete observation, freely translated by me), "I intermittently see this object, which could be nebulous, and which is now at the extreme limit of visibility." ===== IC 1137 has a +30 second error in its IC RA, apparently one of the few errors made by Dreyer in compiling the catalogue. Swift's original paper (his 9th list) has an RA about 8 seconds preceding a galaxy that matches his brief description: "vF, S, R; 9 m * close np". In particular, the star is there. The object was not picked up again until 1983 when it made it into the IRAS lists (it is IRAS 15461+0844). ===== IC 1140. The IC1 position falls on an empty patch of sky. There are stars and asterisms in the area, but nothing leaps out as a "vF (? S Cl)" as Dreyer characterizes this in the IC. The "* 9.5 close" is indeed near the nominal position, but this does not help in identifying Bigourdan's object. Could this be another case like NGC 2529 and 2531 (which see), imaginary nebulae which Bigourdan recognized as "fausse image"? Checking his big table, we find that Bigourdan saw the object twice. He estimated its position on both nights with respect to a nearby star, which he called "An. b", to be PA = 120 degrees, distance = 1.3 arcmin. He tells us that "An. b" is +8.5 seconds and +2.5 arcmin from BD +19d 3021. There is a star there, so I've reduced his estimated position using a position for the star that I measured on DSS. This leads directly to an asterism of three stars that match Bigourdan's description perfectly. So what went wrong? Checking the list of new nebulae in CR 112, 703, 1891 in which this object appears, we find that his position (copied faithfully into IC1 by Dreyer) does not agree with the correctly reduced position. Further, his description reads, "... [the new object] is situated near BD +19d 3021 at p = 120 degrees, d = 1.3 arcmin." He must have confused his observing records and used the position of the BD star for his reduction. (He did, in fact, use the BD star, but only to estimate the position of "An. b".) As I found, when we use his correct comparison star, his estimated position falls almost exactly in the asterism. When Bigourdan prepared his vast set of observations for publication in 1912, he must have re-reduced the positions of all of his new nebulae. I1140 has its correct position in the tables of new nebulae. I suspect that the reason Bigourdan did not notice the mistake is that the position was precessed to equinox 1860 for the 1891 CR list, while the 1912 list is for equinox 1900. ===== IC 1142 has a -1 minute error in its RA. This goes right back to Javelle's listed RA offset from his comparison star -- it should read "+1m 41.95s" instead of "+0m 41.95s". Once the correction is made, Javelle's object is clearly identical to UGC 10055 = CGCG 107-055. ===== IC 1148 = NGC 6020. IC 1148 is another of the about 100 nebulae found by T. H. Safford at Dearborn in the mid-1860s. It, and the other 51 nebulae not found previously by other observers, was first listed in an appendix to the NGC. Its approximate position is only about 15 seconds west of NGC 6020 -- there is nothing in Safford's place -- and his brief description ("neb. *") is appropriate for the galaxy. The galaxy was found again about a decade later by Stephan who provided a micrometric measurement of its position. ===== IC 1150 may be a reobservation of NGC 6018. As Malcolm Thomson notes, the description -- including the superposed star -- and the declination are good matches to Javelle's single observation in July of 1891. However, Javelle's RA is off by 48.7 seconds of time, an unusual error to make. I searched the field for a star-galaxy pair with his observed separation (-20.90 seconds, -8.4 arcsec in north polar distance), but found none. Nor is there such a pair at -16 degrees, -6 degrees, +6 degrees, or +26 degrees as there would be if he made a digit error in his comparison star name (it is BD +16 2854). The only other galaxy Javelle found on the same night (IC 1155) is just where he observed it, so we are left with a mystery. Whatever happened, I've included the identity with a question mark on the IC number. I'm obviously not completely satisfied with the identification, but certainly think it is possible. ===== IC 1155. See IC 1150. ===== IC 1164 is a star. It is one of seven "nebulae" discovered by Bigourdan for which he gives no detailed measurements in his big tables. However, he does list a measurement in his Appendix 8, Supplementary Observations. This points exactly at the star. See IC 532 for more on these seven objects. ===== IC 1165. There are two galaxies near Javelle's position, so the usual question comes up: Which did he see? The northern is the brighter by about a magnitude, so that is the obvious one to select. Reducing Javelle's position with respect to the Hipparcos position (and proper motion), we find that it, too, suggests that the northern of the galaxies is his object. ===== IC 1166. As with IC 1165 (which see), there are two galaxies here. Javelle calls his object "ill-defined", so I suspect he saw both. His single measurement falls between the two, so I've put the IC number on both objects with directional suffixes. ===== IC 1171 is a star. Bigourdan's estimated position is pretty good. While there is an asterism of three or four stars a couple of arcminutes to the south, there is no way to stretch his position to fit it. His RA and Dec offsets are consistent with his estimated position angle and distance, too; this rules out a typo in the declination. ===== IC 1172 = NGC 6044. This object is not listed in Bigourdan's detailed observations, but appears only in his list of new objects. Since the position and description are exactly that of NGC 6044, the identity is certain. ===== IC 1175 is a double star, completely blended on the POSS images. Bigourdan's observation, referred to NGC 6053 (which he called NGC 6055), pinpoints the double exactly. ===== IC 1176 = NGC 6056. Swift's description, "2 pretty bright stars near south" points exactly at the NGC object as the one that he rediscovered. ===== IC 1177. Bigourdan's position is an estimate, but refers unambiguously to this galaxy and the 2-3 faint stars nearby. ===== IC 1178 is usually taken as the northwestern, brighter galaxy of the pair -- IC 1181 is the other. However, Swift's position is not very good, and the fact that he does not mention either object in his description of the other, casts some doubt on the identification. If, for example, his declination is 10 arcmin too far south, then IC 1178 could be the object at 16 03 15.6, +17 54 13 (often incorrectly called NGC 6054). This particular mistake is unlikely, however, as the galaxy to the north is a full magnitude fainter. It's possible that IC 1178 is identical to IC 1181, though since Swift claims that he found the two on the same night, this seems unlikely. So, 1) having nothing to go on but Swift's observations, 2) since there is no other object near his position that could be IC 1178, and 3) since the identification is in common use in the current astronomical literature, I retain the identification, though note that it is uncertain. ===== IC 1179 is almost certainly = NGC 6050. Together, the two objects are just visible in the 30-inch at McDonald. I found it impossible to separate them, even knowing that both existed. So, I think it is unlikely that Swift could have seen these as separate objects with his 16-inch telescope. ===== IC 1180 is probably the star near Bigourdan's rough position. He used NGC 6053 (which he calls NGC 6055) as his reference for his single estimate of the object's position. That position falls nearly on an 18th magnitude star which he, of course, could not have seen with his 30-cm refractor. But about an arcminute to the northeast -- toward NGC 6053 -- is a brighter star that he might have picked up. His description is also appropriate for an object at the limit of his telescope: "Star perhaps accompanied by a little nebulosity." There is no nebulosity nearer the star than NGC 6053 itself. ===== IC 1181. See IC 1178. ===== IC 1183 = NGC 6054, which see. ===== IC 1184 is a double -- or perhaps triple -- star. Bigourdan's estimated position, though rough, unambiguously points at the stars. The brightest star is the southeastern one, with the western and northern stars being about the same, very faint, magnitude. They may not have been involved in Bigourdan's image at all. But both are easily visible on the sky surveys. The northern is about twice as far from the brightest star as the western, so even if the western star is part of the asterism, the northern might not be. It was not until I looked at the 2MASS image of this in spring of 2005 that it occured to me that the northern star might be involved, so for years I had this listed as just a double star. All three are now in the table. ===== IC 1190 = CGCG 108-136 = MCG +03-41-113. Swift's position is bad, but his description "... another [= IC 1191] and [NGC] 6061 near in line" point to this galaxy (rather than to the fainter, smaller object, MCG +03-41-115 at 16 03 45.6, +18 19 48) as the one he saw. My earlier identification of I1190 as a star is incorrect. ===== IC 1191. See IC 1190. ===== IC 1193. Javelle's reduced position is 1 arcminutes, 10 arcseconds too far north, but his description fits the galaxy. In addition, there is no other galaxy nearby that he could have mistaken for this one. Do his printed offsets have digit typos? ===== IC 1194. Javelle's offsets point exactly at the fainter lenticular, rather than at the brighter elliptical nearby. Perhaps he mistook the brighter object as a star, though it should have been clearly nebulous in the Nice 28-inch. ----- Until October 2018, I had Javelle's object labeled "IC 1194A" and the brighter galaxy called "IC 1194". Given that Javelle's observation is so clear, I see no reason not to adopt his object as the real IC 1194. So, I have switched the labels on the galaxies. My apologies if this causes confusion or problems for you. ===== IC 1200 = NGC 6079. Swift's description and position are very good. He can be excused (in this case) for not realizing that William Herschel had found this object a century earlier since Herschel's position is well off the galaxy. Swift does refer (in his list VII) to this as the "south-preceding" of two objects (IC 1201 is the other), though it is actually north-preceding. See NGC 6071 and NGC 6079 for more discussion about WH's positions. This object is not, by the way, the same as B.207 = IC 1204 as Dreyer speculates in the description. See IC 1204 for a bit more on this. ===== IC 1201. See IC 1200. ===== IC 1202 = NGC 6081. For a change, Swift's position is good -- it agrees with Stephan's to within about 10 arcsec. Why, then, didn't he or Dreyer catch the identity? I suspect Swift did not because he found the galaxy on 7 April 1888, and published his 7th list in August of the same year. That was the year, of course, when the NGC appeared. But Dreyer had plenty of time to at least note the identity, and didn't. Well, there are plenty of other cases like that, too. No one is perfect -- though Dreyer came far closer, given his material, than most other cataloguers who have followed him. ===== IC 1203 may be an asterism of 6 to 8 stars. Though his position -- at least as transcribed into the first IC by Dreyer, and as plotted on the 1929 edition of the CD charts -- is good, I'm not sure that the scattered group of 6-8 stars there is compact enough that Thome would have mistaken it for a nebula in his small telescope (12.5 cm aperture). IC 1207 (which see) has a much better candidate asterism; I think this one is too large (3.5 x 2.0 arcmin) and its stars too bright to be taken for a nebula. Nevertheless, I am retaining the identification, though with a colon, since there is nothing else in the area. Perhaps an experienced observer can poke at this with a similarly sized refractor to see what it looks like. ===== IC 1204 is not the same object as IC 1200 as Dreyer speculates in the description for IC 1200. In this particular case, the NGC position for NGC 6079 is wrong (see the IC position file for the corrected declination), but once it is corrected, it is clear that this is a galaxy 3-4 arcmin northwest of the NGC object. Bigourdan's precise position agrees pretty well with modern positions, and his comment (as summarized in the IC description) concerning the 11th magnitude star following by 3 arcmin is correct. Finally, Swift's position for IC 1200 = NGC 6079 is quite good in this case and pinpoints the other galaxy. See IC 1200, and NGC 6071 and NGC 6079 for more on this field. ===== IC 1206 is one of seven nebulae found by Bigourdan for which he provides no detailed observations in his big tables of differential measurements (see IC 532 for other notes on these objects). In spite of the fact that there are also no data for this object -- not even a date of observation -- in his Appendix VII devoted to new objects, this is also the only one of the seven which actually is a galaxy. His position is within 30 arcsec of that measured by Lewis Swift who called the object "eF, S, R." This is the description adopted by Dreyer for the IC. ----- Long after I wrote that, I finally looked into Bigourdan's list (Comptes rendus 112, 703, 1891) where this first appeared. Here is what he has to say about it: "Extremely faint (found while searching for d'Arrest's comet on 28 June 1890). Could be identical to Swift 7-81." It is indeed identical; Swift found the galaxy just two years earlier (3 June 1888). His position is quite good (though Bigourdan's is closer), and his description "eeF, S, R" is appropriate. Neither observer, though, saw the companion galaxy 1.3 arcmin to the southwest; at V = 16, it was just too faint for their telescopes. ===== IC 1207. Here is another asterism (2.0 x 0.5 arcmin) of 6 or 8 stars, fainter than those in IC 1203 (which see). This is a more believable object for a candidate nebula in a small telescope. Thome's position is good. ===== IC 1210 is not NGC 6111, which see. ===== IC 1213 = NGC 6172, which see. There is also a note about this and a few other of Stephan's discoveries under UGC 3840 in the "notngc" files. ===== IC 1216. See IC 1217. ===== IC 1217 is lost. Swift found it the same night, 2 August 1888, as several other nebulae (IC 1200, I1201, and I1216 are among them), and like most of them, it is one of his "eeeF, S, R, eee diff" nebulae. Unlike the others, there is no trace of it near his position. I1216 is, in Swift's 7th list, 30 seconds preceding, and 1deg 19.5 arcmin south of his position for I1217. Since that galaxy is close to his nominal position (just 10 seconds off in RA, not a large error at the quite northern declination), we would expect I1217 to be within 10 seconds of its position, too. But there is nothing there aside from a few single stars. I suppose it is possible that I1217 is one of these, but there is no way to tell which; Swift's description has no notes about neighboring stars that would help pin it down. Finally, a search of the area on the POSS1 prints turned up no other galaxies in the area that might be I1217 with digit errors in their positions. So, another of Swift's nebulae is lost. ===== IC 1220. The NGC RA is 10 seconds of time off. This makes it most likely that the brighter CGCG 052-030 is the galaxy that Swift saw rather than the fainter CGCG 052-028. ===== IC 1226 may also be IC 1232, which see. ===== IC 1227 = NGC 6206. The identity was first suggested by Bigourdan himself in an italicized note in his big table. He puts the note under his second observation (1891) of the galaxy: "This nebula has in its neighborhood four stars, while Swift notes only three near NGC 6206, so I had thought at first that the two objects were distinct; but today it seems probable that NGC 6206 and Bigourdan 210 are identical." Indeed they are. Swift's RA is 20 seconds of time off. This misled Bigourdan to a faint star coincidentally close to the three stars that Swift mentions in his description: "pF, eS, R, stellar; 3 vF sts nr n point to it." In his first observation of "NGC 6206", Bigourdan carefully notes the distances and position angles of the same three stars -- but the object that he took to be N6206 is actually a fourth star that Swift apparently did not see (is it variable?). Bigourdan realized his mistake in 1891. By the time he returned to the field for a final measurement of the galaxy (in 1895), his description for N6206 is that of a single star, and he does not bother to make a third measurement of it. However, he does make four more measurements of his "new" nebula. Altogether, he has ten measurements of the galaxy. The average of the ten positions falls within two arcsec of the modern position. ===== IC 1229 and IC 1230 are probably the brightest two galaxies in a group scattered around Swift's position. He makes the separation between the galaxies more than twice the actual separation, but his descriptions are more or less OK. He mentions a double star between the objects. This may be the pair of compact "galaxies" that I've noted in the table as companions north of I1230. One of these is certainly a galaxy -- is the other a star? If they are galaxies, I'm surprised that Swift could see them. ===== IC 1230 is the brightest galaxy in a small group. It has a large and somewhat distorted corona, and is apparently interacting with a much smaller, fainter galaxy just to the south. Is the IC galaxy a cD in the making, swallowing up its fainter neighbor? ===== IC 1232 is probably IC 1226. Swift gives the RA only to a full minute of time with a question mark appended (his position is "16 46? +46 16.7" for 1890.0). He adds a note of explanation to his description: "Driving clock failed." Given the rest of his description, "eeeF, S, iR; B * with distant companion nr sf", however, we can scour the area for objects that he might have seen. The most obvious candidate is IC 1226, eight minutes preceding Swift's nominal RA. The stars, however, are southwest, not southeast as Swift would have them. The declination is appropriate, though (just 4 arcmin out), as is the description. So, I'm going to suggest that Swift made a simple mistake in his placement of the neighboring stars. He's confused his directions before, so I'm not surprised at the probability here -- especially given the broken clock which must have disconcerted him a bit. It certainly would have me! ----- In August 2016, Yann Pothier sent a note suggesting that Arp 312 = VV 197 = CGCG 252-004 = PGC 59071/2 -- a double galaxy, the brightest in a group -- is Swift's object. This has the advantage of having an RA that is only 37 seconds off (rather than eight minutes), but the disadvantage of a +38 arcminute Declination error, though this could be a 40 arcminute digit error. However, the major advantage of this object is the "B * with distant companion nr sf" -- the star, HD 152238, is there; its "distant companion" is just an arcminute north-northwest. If Swift was distracted by his broken clock drive, an error in his recorded Declination could be one result. Given the good match to the description and more or less explicable errors in both RA and Dec, I've elevated this to a probably identity, and have dropped the IC 1226 suggestion back to a possible identity. ===== IC 1233 = NGC 6247 as suggested by Dreyer in IC1. There is a 10 arcmin error in Swift's published position. Otherwise his position fits to within his usual errors, and his description "eF, vS, vE; bet 2 sts" also fits. There are no other galaxies in the area that match the description and have simple digit offsets from Swift's position. The galaxy itself looks like an interacting pair on the DSS, and even more so in the SDSS image. I've given separate positions for the components, though everyone else has taken it as a single, peculiar galaxy. ===== IC 1234 is a star -- though it does not match Bigourdan's description very well. He says (roughly translated by me; pardon my French!): "Object of doubtful appearance, which could be formed from stars 13.5 with a little nebulosity; it is completely imperceptible and a little elongated toward the position indicated for NGC 6262." He has two observations of it on the night of 5 Sept 1888. They do not agree very well, with differences of 0.95 seconds in RA, and 12.7 arcsec in Dec. Nevertheless, the mean of the two leads us unambiguously to the star. ----- Earlier I wrote: I should note that the identity of Bigourdan's comparison star is not quite secure. He places it -6 seconds and -7 arcmin from BD +57 1713; there is no star there. However, there are several stars scattered around including a noticeably brighter one 3 arcmin to the south. The identity of I1234 rests on our accepting this as Bigourdan's comparison star for his two measurements. This is wrong. There is a roughly 2 arcminute error in the BD declination of BD +57 1713. Once that is taken into account, Bigourdan's offsets lead us directly to his comparison star. As it happens, I got the right one when I went over the field years ago, so there is no problem with accepting the identity. Or is there? Using the same comparison star, Bigourdan measured the position of NGC 6262 (which see for its own story). But that turns out to be another of his "fausse images", though two stars near the position he measured are actually on the sky where he says they are. Given that, I am now wondering if IC 1234 might not be simply another eyepiece illusion. The star is within Bigourdan's rather large measurement errors (see above), but it is quite faint. Could he have actually seen it? Whatever happened, colons are now on the identification of the star. ===== IC 1237. See IC 1250. ===== IC 1238 is a double star. See the discussion under NGC 6276; it's quite a story. ===== IC 1239 = NGC 6276, which see. ===== IC 1240 is probably one of Bigourdan's imaginary objects. He describes it briefly as an "Object suspected [only for] an instant. The sky is beautiful." His position is not measured, only estimated at position angle 240 degrees, distance 3 arcmin from a star he calls "Arg. OE, 16761". The position he gives for the star is 2 arcmin south of the real position. I get the impression that he was not tremendously interested in this object. For a few minutes, I thought that the star an arcmin north of his position might be the object he saw. But the position angle and distance Bigourdan estimated probably rule this out. He correctly reduced them to offsets in RA and Dec, and I see no way to squeeze the extra arcminute out of the reduced position. So, another twinkle in the eye just beyond the limit of visibility. ===== IC 1243 is a line of five stars. It was first seen this way by Herbert Howe whose description (in MNRAS 58, 515, 1898) is so accurate that I can do no better than to quote it in full. "This was examined on two nights. It consists of five 12-14 mag. stars in a line, at an angle of 0 degrees, the length of the line being 45 arcsec. A star of mag. 14 immediately precedes the northern end of the row." Swift's position is adequate (10 seconds too large in RA, 1.3 arcmin too large in Dec) for a positive identification. ===== IC 1246 is a star. Bigourdan estimated its position only once, but his estimate still falls within a few arcsec of the star. His description makes it clear that Bigourdan was not much interested in the object: "Very faint object, maybe nebulous, only suspected." He also got the direction of his "comparison" star wrong (it is the "* 10 n 1 arcmin" in the NGC description) -- it is actually south of his suspected nebula. ===== IC 1247 is, like IC 1246 and so many other of Bigourdan's "novae", also a star. But he actually took the time to measure it once, the night he discovered it (21 June 1887). He described it then as "A star 13.3-13.4 around which I suspect a few traces of nebulosity. A star 13.3 is at PA = 27 deg, distance = 0.7 arcmin." Bigourdan's measurement falls within 2 arcsec of the position found from the DSS. When he examined this object again on 9 June 1891, he calls it "A star 13.4 without a trace of nebulosity." A third and final examination yielded this description: "The object measured in 1887 is a star 13.5 or 13.4-13.5 without nebulosity." Herbert Howe also examined the area in the late 1890's and came to the same conclusion in one of his Monthly Notices papers. Dreyer put Howe's observation into an IC2 note, so there is no excuse for missing this one. A curious coincidence: I did the debugging of this object on 21 June 2002, exactly 115 years after Bigourdan first found and measured it. ===== IC 1250. There is a galaxy within 0.4 arcminutes of Swift's position for one of two objects that he found on 23 June 1890. However, Steve Gottlieb pointed out in an email in July 2017 some problems with the object: I was also surprised with the appearance of Swift's IC 1250. Although his position is a good match with 2MASX J17142919+5724597, his description "pF, S, cE" doesn't seem appropriate to me. This galaxy is again quite faint (V ~15 [in Steve's 24-inch reflector]), so I would expect Swift to call it "eeF" or "eeeF", instead of "pF". Also visually, only the 12 [arcsecond] core was seen, yet his description calls it "cE". In addition, the same night, he discovered IC 1237, which he called "eF". Yet IC 1237 appeared much brighter visually (at least a magnitude) to me than IC 1250. Unfortunately, I don't see another good candidate for the identification of IC 1250, unless his observation refers to NGC 6338, which is roughly a minute of RA east. So there's the problem. Swift's description does not match the object at his position. As Steve mentions, Swift's only other new object from that June 1890 night is IC 1237 for which there is most likely no identification problem. Swift describes it as "eF, pL, lE; * nr p"; the only possible problem is the brighter part of the galaxy -- it is actually "cE", rather then "lE". Still, Swift's position for IC 1237 is 1.4 arcminutes north of the galaxy -- quite good for him -- and the "* nr p" that he mentions is on the sky. I wonder if it is possible that Swift somehow switched parts of the descriptions of the two objects. I'm not at all sure that NGC 6338 is a candidate -- it, too, is "lE" rather than "cE". I checked at positions that are digit errors away from Swift's position, but found nothing. So, I have to agree with Steve: There are no good candidates for Swift's object. And given the brightness and elongation discrepancies, I'm putting colons on the number in the position table. ===== IC 1251 and IC 1254 are the two brightest galaxies in a group north and east of NGC 6340. Edward Swift's positions are not too bad, and the galaxies are enough brighter than their companions that the identifications are probably secure (but see IC 1254 for a caution). ===== IC 1252 = IC 4649. This identity was recognized by Bigourdan himself: It is Big 217 = Big 429, and apparently stems from some error in his record keeping (there are five others in the same RA range with duplicated numbers in his lists). He has the two as being identical in his Table II of new nebulae (Table II has the "novae" in RA order), but has them at different RAs in Table I (this lists them in order of Bigourdan's own number). He attempted to measure a position for the object on only one of the three nights on which he saw it -- there is a considerably brighter star only 30 arcsec to the east which interferred with his observation. His single position falls between the star and the galaxy. ===== IC 1253 = NGC 6347. Safford's original position is very good, falling within 20 arcsec of the galaxy. Unfortunately, when Dreyer precessed the position, he made a +2 degree error in the declination. So, the IC position has nothing near it. This is one of the very few errors that Dreyer himself made in assembling his catalogues. ===== IC 1254. Carlson has a "correction" to the IC position of this galaxy -- it is not an improvement. Edward Swift's position is actually closer to the galaxy. Also see IC 1251. ----- This galaxy has a relatively low surface brightness, so despite its size and total magnitude, it may not be as visible as the brightest of the companions to the northeast. I'm refraining from appending colons to the name, however, as the magnitude difference is probably enough to overcome the surface brightness problem. I think that a visual observation with a 15-20 inch telescope would not be amiss here. ===== IC 1261 is a double galaxy in a poor cluster. Swift's position, just an arcminute north of the pair, is good enough to recover the pair, but is not good enough to tell us which of the objects Swift actually saw. The eastern galaxy is the brighter of the two, so I presume it is that one that he saw. Perhaps the western added a bit to the perception of nebulosity here. ===== IC 1270 = NGC 6488. Many years ago, for IC 1270 I chose a star at the same declination as Swift left us (+62 14.4, precessed to B1950), and about 10 seconds east of his RA (17 47 20, again precessed to B1950). I'm pretty sure that I did not take into account his description ("eeeF, S, R, bet a * and 3 sts slightly curved; np of [NGC] 6488; eee diff"). Had I done so, I would have almost certainly done what I am doing now -- wondering just what Swift saw that 11th night in June of 1888. There are certainly no galaxies in the area aside from NGC 6488 -- ironically, discovered by Swift himself nearly two years earlier on 1 Sept 1886 -- so I thought he must have picked up one of the several faint stars here. I chose the obvious one near his position, clearly not taking his description of the field into account. There is just no match with the field, so the star cannot be his object. So, pondering this problem again in December 2013, I decided to follow up on NGC 6488. I discovered the most interesting description of it in Swift's fourth list (in AN 2752): "pF, pS, E; bet a pair of sts and a trio of sts in form of a semi-circle." This sounds to me like the same galaxy, and the same star field, seen on two different nights. The field matches Swift's first description a bit better, but the second could be made to work without too much stretching. So, I'm now almost certain that Swift simply rediscovered NGC 6488, and added the note referring to it after he noticed that the positions were fairly close on the sky (see NGC 6497 = NGC 6498 for another similar case). If that is what happened, he almost certainly did not see two galaxies in the field on that second night (11 June 1888) -- he just reobserved NGC 6488 alone and, given his poor positions, assumed two nebulae in the area when he was preparing his 7th list (in AN 2859) for publication. ===== IC 1271. Swift's original description reads "eeeF, vL, N6523 nr p, ee diff; B * inv or is a neb *; discovered 2 years ago." He gives a position of 18 02 26 -24 27.2 (precessed to 1950) which falls about 5 arcmin southeast of the star at 18 02 06.48, -24 24 10.9 (B1950.0, GSC). His position is still well within the brighter part of the nebulosity, but I have given a position that is much closer to the star and corresponds to the brightest part of the nebula to the east of M 8 on the blue POSS and SSS prints/films (18 02 09, -24 24.9). If Swift meant to give the position of the star, it is well off, but not unreasonably so for him, especially given the size of the object. This is not, by the way, = NGC 6526 = H V 9. That number applies to the much brighter southeastern portion of M 8 that curves around to the northeast to eventually encompass NGC 6530. See N6526 for more. Swift's note "... discovered 2 years ago" deserves a comment. JH's sketch of M 8 in the Cape of Good Hope Observations shows this entire area, including all of the nebulosity included in IC 1271, as well as Swift's star. So, I don't think that we can credit Swift with the discovery of this "object." JH clearly regarded it as a part of the M 8 complex, and we can now see on photographs that his interpretation was correct. Herbert Howe came to the same conclusion through visual examination of the field a few years after Swift's observation. See NGC 6523, N6526, and N6533 for more discussion about the early observations of the M 8 area. ===== IC 1272 is an asterism of 4-5 stars. Bigourdan's one estimated position is about 10 arcsec preceding the geometric center of the asterism, but is good enough to allow unambiguous identification of the object. IC 1273 (which see) is a double star about 2.5 arcmin to the east-northeast observed the same nights. ===== IC 1273 is a double star -- actually a triple as the southwestern star is itself double -- close northeast of IC 1272 (which see). Bigourdan has one measurement of the object which clearly identifies it. ===== IC 1274 and IC 1275 are both reflection nebulae sketched by Barnard from a plate he took at Lick in 1892. The published sketch (in AN 3111), with NGC 6559 and two stars from Benjamin Gould's general catalogue of brighter southern stars identified on it, is reasonably accurate and identifies the two nebulae -- both are marked "Nova". Barnard did not give their positions in his paper, so I suspect that the IC positions are estimates by Dreyer. Those positions are 5-6 arcminutes southwest of the nebulae, but the objects are carefully placed in Barnard's sketch with respect to nearby stars, so the identifications are clear. Brian's adopted positions are for the brightest stars near the center of each of the nebulae. In addition, I give approximate positions of the centers of the nebulae as seen on the DSS2R image. The objects are relatively dim and close to being round on that plate, but are brighter and larger, with considerably more internal detail -- especially in IC 1274 -- on the DSS1B plate. ===== IC 1275. See IC 1274. ===== IC 1277 is a faint galaxy. Bigourdan has four observations of it; they do not agree very well, but his mean position is only 12 arcsec south of the nucleus. The identity is secure. ===== IC 1278 is an asterism of 4-5 stars. Bigourdan observed it on the same nights as I1277 (which see), but his five measurements are much more accordant than for the galaxy. Again, the identification is secure. ===== IC 1279 = IC 1281. Swift found this galaxy twice, first on 18 Oct 1887, then on 28 May 1896. Dreyer suspected the identity and queried it in IC1; Howe looked at the field (see MNRAS 61, 29, 1900) and found only one "vF, pS" object (Howe's micrometric position is within a few arcseconds of the modern ones). Dreyer correctly took this to confirm the identity of Swift's two objects, and reported it in an IC2 note. Coincidentally, Swift's positions (copied correctly into the IC) fall near two of its galaxies, CGCG 1809.5+3559 and CGCG 1809.8+3558, the second actually a pair. So, Zwicky and Herzog assigned the two numbers to what they thought were the appropriate galaxies; the rest of us have, unfortunately, followed these mistaken identities for nearly half a century. I noticed the problem in October 2013 because Swift's description of his "second" nebula (IC 1279) reads, "eeF, S, cE; semicircle of sev sts nr f." I was curious -- could Swift have seen both galaxies in the CGCG pair? They are not only aligned north-south, but their major axes are also aligned. Perhaps Swift saw both, and mistook it for a single object. But there is no "semicircle" of stars following (east) of the pair. Widening the DSS field to look for these stars, I found them preceding (west), following IC 1279. Looking at Swift's description for that, I read "eeeF, pS, R; in a semicircle of st.; eee diff." That clinched the identity that Dreyer had suggested and Howe had confirmed. By the way, Swift's position for IC 1279 is about 10 seconds of time too small in RA (18 09 21, +36 01.2; B1950.0), while his position for IC 1281 (18 09 51, +36 00.7; B1950.0) is about 20 seconds of time too large in RA. His declinations for both observations are within two arcminutes of the galaxy. Compare them, too, with the CGCG positions, and you'll see why Zwicky and Herzog assigned the IC numbers as they did. ===== IC 1280 = NGC 6581, which see. ===== IC 1281 = IC 1279, which see. ===== IC 1282 is an asterism of four faint stars. It is faint enough that Wolfgang overlooked it in favor of a brighter asterism to the southwest. But Bigourdan's single measurement unambiguously points to the fainter object. ===== IC 1283 is a part of IC 1284. In AN 3111, Barnard gives the name (BD -19d 4948) and correct position of the nebulous star that he found on one of his plates. He continues, "The nebulosity is very small and principally noticeable on the southern side of the star." This is an accurate description as far as it goes. Later, in AN 4239, he describes the entire area as having a "large bed of diffused nebulosity" stretching between I1284 and BD -20d 5055 nearly a degree to the southwest. The Palomar and Siding Spring survey plates show Barnard's nebulosity and large swaths of Milky Way stars throughout the entire area. See NGC 6589 and NGC 6590 for more discussion of Barnard's and Swift's observations here. ===== IC 1284. See IC 1283, and NGC 6590 = NGC 6595 = IC 4700. ===== IC 1285 is an asterism of 5 stars. Bigourdan's position points to the two brightest on the northwestern corner, but his description suggests that he saw at least two of the other three. Wolfgang and I have estimated the center of the entire group. ===== IC 1290. As with I1203 and I1207 (which see), this is an asterism of 6 to 8 faint stars near Thome's position. Herbert Howe was the first to observe this after Thome and he said only, "This is simply a cluster of half a dozen small stars from mag. 12 down." The asterism, probably not a cluster, is a north-south line of stars about 2 arcmin long. I've adopted the mean of the 2MASS PSC positions for the six brightest stars in the line. The position that I originally adopted (from my own estimate and from ESO) is too far east by about 6 seconds of time. ===== IC 1292 was perhaps a nova, and is now lost (well, until someone does a deep spectroscopic search for it). I previously wrote: "Pickering announced it in AN 137, 71, 1895 ..." As Brian Skiff pointed out in April 2008, this isn't quite right. Williamina Fleming published an earlier paper (communicated by Pickering and appearing in AN 137, 71, 1894 = AN 3269) in which she lists the object as a "new gaseous nebula". She says, "[It] was observed, and the character of its spectrum confirmed with the 15-inch Equatorial, by Professor E.C. Pickering on October 18, 1894. It precedes Cord. DM [CD] -27d 13151 mg. 9.6 0.6s and is north 1.6', and is perhaps identical with [CD] -27d 13150 mg. 9.6 which according to the [CD] precedes 13151, 2.3s and is north 3.7' but which does not appear in the sky nor on the photograph." Assuming the object to be a nova, Fleming must have alerted Pickering soon after the plate was taken (unfortunately, she gives no date for the plate). There is certainly no nebulous object near her listed position now. Brian has checked that that position is consistent with the offsets she gives from the CD star (the star is in Tycho-2 and GSC as 06867-01486, V = 10.6). Wolfgang has selected one of the very faint stars in the immediate area for his list, but without reference to the Harvard plate on which the object was found, this can be little more than a guess. So, another puzzle unsolved. Brian suggests another error of some sort may be present, but given the internal consistency of Fleming's position and note, I think this is unlikely. By the way, the information in HA 60 is also accordant with that in Fleming's note. ----- Coming back on this in October 2018, I worked out a position for the "nebula" from Fleming's offsets and the current position of her reference star (I neglected proper motion of the star as it is small). That gave for J2000.0 18 44 45.7, -27 48 18. There is nothing obvious here, even "blinking" the blue, red, and infrared DSS images. I'm coming around to Brian's suggestion: perhaps Fleming miscalculated the nebula's approximate position, and therefore misidentified the CD stars she names. It occurs to me, too, that Harvard plates probably still exist which might solve this mystery. Worth checking into, perhaps? ===== IC 1293 is a small asterism of 5 or 6 stars. There is a brighter star less than an arcmin to the northwest. Swift suspected another "nebula" near to the southeast; this may be the fainter asterism at 18 40 54.5, +56 13 32 (B1950). Howe was the first to suggest that this was not a nebula, but his description is a good match for a line of three stars well to the south at 18 40 35.4, +56 09 31. He says "It appears to consist of three stars of mag 14, of which the following one is nebulous." The east-northeastern of the line of three stars is actually a blended double; it could well appear nebulous at the eyepiece. But it is unusual for one of Howe's objects to be so far off the catalogued position without his mentioning it. ===== IC 1294 is probably the asterism of 3 or 4 stars listed in the table of positions. Swift is unusually voluble about this object. In addition to the usual description of the object itself ("eeeF, S, iR, eee diff") he adds, "F * close nf both in line with 3 vF sts in form of arc of circle. The F * is in the middle. Not [NGC] 6695." The arc of three stars that Swift mentions is about 2 arcmin northeast. This is a clear match to his note. However, that would make his "F * ... in the middle" a considerably fainter double star a bit closer to his "nebula". In order for his "F *" to be brighter than the three "vF sts" in his arc, as his note suggests, we have to suppose that one or both of the pair is variable, and that he saw it near its maximum. This makes it less likely that the identification of I1294 that I suggest is actually the right one. But I don't see anything else nearby that matches Swift's note as well. Wolfgang has chosen a faint galaxy about 30 arcsec northwest of a considerably brighter star. I think it is too faint for Swift to have dug out, and is too far from his position. It would probably be overwhelmed by the star at the eyepiece. We have to keep in mind, too, Swift's propensity for mangling his positions. See IC 1300 and IC 1301 for two examples. So, I've put a colon on this IC number in the table. Sigh. ===== IC 1298. This one is so obvious that I got it for SEGC. The IC description reads simply "vS Cl, [NGC] 6778 p 3 [arcmin]." This is just where Bigourdan's three micrometric measurements made on two nights place his "cluster." It is probably a random grouping of 8-9 stars at Bigourdan's place -- but it certainly does look like small cluster. Once we have proper motions for the stars, we'll know better whether they might be associated. In the meantime, I suspect this would be an interesting object in a moderate size (say 15- to 20-inch) telescope. And it is indeed just three arcmin east of NGC 6778 = NGC 6785 (which has its own story). ===== IC 1299, et al. The Reverend Thomas Espin, an avid amateur astronomer active for nearly 50 years beginning in the late 1880's, published a list of 15 new "nebulae" in MNRAS 54, 327, 1894. He provides no-more-than-adequate positions for them (estimated from the BD charts), and his descriptions are generally minimal. Though he does not say so, he presumably swept them up during his searches for double stars. Taken altogether, his brief notes suggest that several of these are no more than enhancements of the stellar background of the Milky Way. Some are real clusters, and at least one is an asterism. I've written out my usual comments for the questionable objects; these notes are folded into the list in numerical order. See IC 1304, 1305, 1306, 1307, 1310, 1311, 1314, 1363, 1369, 1378, 1400, 1402, and 1442. IC 1299 itself is a clump of stars that may or may not be a real cluster (Archinal and Hynes have not included it in their otherwise comprehensive list in "Star Clusters", aside from a brief mention under their text entry for IC 1310). Espin's position is very good in this case, and pins down this group of about a dozen stars scattered across an area of 4 arcmin by 2.5 arcmin. ----- When I looked at this during my sweep of all the NGC and IC clusters, I put the center just over an arcminute northeast of Espin's place, and made it roughly twice as large as during my first look at the object. It is possible that the "cluster" is twice as large again; if so, it is centered at 19 22 55, +20 44.3 (J2000), and is bi-lobed. This, however, takes the object further east of Espin's place, so I mention it simply as a remote possibility. ===== IC 1300 = NGC 6798. According to Swift himself in a letter to Herbert Howe, there is a one degree error in Swift's declination published in his 10th list. Howe cites Swift's letter in his long paper of observations of nebulae and clusters in MNRAS 61, 29, 1900. Curiously, Dreyer printed the correction in the IC2 Notes, but did not indicate the source. Swift's position is otherwise good. Another curiosity: NGC 6798 is also one of Swift's discoveries. It comes from his second list; the position there is very good. ===== IC 1301 is almost certainly equal to IC 4867. Dreyer has copied into the IC2 Notes a comment of Howe's to the effect that the north polar distance of I1301 may be 36 arcmin too large. Dreyer goes on to suggest that the nebula is therefore probably I4867 -- which, however, is still nearly fifteen arcmin away from Swift's "corrected" position. Howe's comment was made in the same note in which he commented on IC 1300 (which see), and had its as its source the same letter from Lewis Swift. Howe says, "In the same letter, Swift states that the declination of (1301) is about +49 40, which is 35 arcmin greater than the declination (for 1900.0) computed from the Index Catalogue." This would make the position for 1950.0 19 25 21, +49 47.2. As I suggested above, this is still about 15 arcmin from I4867, found by Burnham while he was observing a double star. How did Dreyer make the connection? I think he probably realized that two bright stars mentioned in both Swift's and Burnham's descriptions were identical, especially since one of these is Burnham's double. Swift's description reads: "eeF, vS, R; 2B and 1F * in line nr f, nearest * nf close D with 300." Burnham's description as abbreviated for the 2nd IC is: "S; 2 sts 7 nf 3 arcmin." Swift did not know that the double was the star later observed by Burnham, but Dreyer certainly suspected it. So, this chain of reasoning makes IC 1301 = IC 4867 = CGCG 256-017sw (the northeastern component, about an arcminute away, is fainter). CGCG suggests that IC 1301 is CGCG 256-018; this is probably not the case as the galaxy is near neither Swift's original position, nor his "corrected" position quoted by Howe. It does have three stars following, but all are faint and none of them is double. ===== IC 1304 may be a clump of field stars a few arcmin to the northeast of Espin's position. It may also be UGC 11460, but this would require an error in RA of 2 min 24 sec which would make it unique among his objects. His declination is just 2 arcmin off the galaxy's, within his nominal accuracy of 3 arcmin. Espin says nothing more than "Faint nebulosity." Without some notion of size, any attempt at identification is only speculation. At least we have a couple of candidates. See IC 1299 for more. ----- If the "cluster" is Espin's object, then -- like IC 1299 -- it is not included in "Star Clusters" aside from a mention as one of Espin's discoveries. ===== IC 1305 is a more-or-less linear asterism of 4-5 stars stretching northwest of BD +19 4103. The identification is pretty secure as Espin's position is just 1.3 arcmin north and less than 2 seconds preceding the asterism. His note clinches the identity: "Very faint, extending N.P. from a 9.5 mag star." See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1306 may be the group of stars centered 2 seconds preceding and 2.5 arcmin north of Espin's position, though without the nebulosity that he claims: "Nebula round a group of faint stars." See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1307 has the most extensive note of any of Espin's discoveries: "While sweeping on September 14 [1893] I suddenly came upon a dark space. On carefully examining the field there is evidently a large faint nebulosity, mixed up with stars, sharply defined on f side, stretching N. and S. Max Wolf's photograph shows this nebulosity." Even so, there is no nebulosity here. There is, however, a fairly well- defined Milky Way star cloud. Espin's "dark space" marks its southern edge, while the eastern edge is not as clear as his description indicates. The position I give is well to the north of Espin's. His is close to his "dark space", well off the center of the star cloud -- assuming that this is indeed what he saw. The area is near the center of Barnard's plate 70 in his Milky Way Atlas (taken with a 6-inch lens); it is no more nebulous than any other area on the plate. Wolf used a similar lens for some of his early plates. Espin may be referring to one of these. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1308. In "Southern Nebulae" -- in Publications of the Leander McCormick Observatory, volume 1, page 173, 1893 -- F. P. Leavenworth has observations of the two bright HII regions on the northern "edge" of NGC 6822. Dreyer took the western of these as NGC 6822 itself (hence his note "6822 p 12[seconds]"; see IC 4895 for more on the later story from Wolf and Howe), but added the eastern as a new object in the first IC. There is no problem with the Leavenworth's position; it is within just a couple of arcseconds of the modern positions from e.g. GSCA, 2MASS PSC, etc. ===== IC 1310. Close to Espin's position is a small cluster or pretty rich asterism about 1.5 x 1 arcmin in size. This is probably Espin's object as it is the only outstanding object in the area. There is some extremely low surface brightness nebulosity around, but it is too faint to have been visible to Espin. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1311. Though Espin describes this as an "Extremely faint nebula within a circle of stars", it is actually a fine cluster about 5 arcmin across. It is indeed within the circle of stars, and makes an interesting object at the eyepiece (it was just barely visible in a 6-inch F7 reflector at about 150X). See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1312. Bigourdan's first observation of this is an asterism of about a dozen faint field stars covering an area of around 1.7 x 1.0 arcmin. Bigourdan himself suspected that the object might consist of stars "at the extreme limit of visibility," and notes that it was difficult to measure. In fact, his first two measurements on 20 Sept 1884 are quite discordant, being more than 20 arcsec apart. His third measurement twelve years later on 29 Oct 1896 is not even of the same clump of stars, but is a smaller and fainter asterism of four stars over three arcmin away. Though I've given positions for both in the table, I've taken the first set of stars as the IC object as that is the one published in Bigourdan's Comptes rendus list that Dreyer incorporated into the first IC. Reinmuth could not find the object on the Heidelberg plates that he examined, so questioned if it might be the same as NGC 6892. It isn't; N6892 is a different clump of four stars. Bigourdan's measurements under the NGC number refer to the right asterism. Since he found and measured I1312 on two of the same nights as N6892, the objects must be different. ----- Looking for this again in March 2018, I don't even see the first clump of a dozen stars I noted many years ago. This may well be one of Bigourdan's "fausse images". ===== IC 1314 is another star cloud in the Milky Way. There is no nebulosity associated with it. Espin describes it as a "Large misty patch, partly resolved." Though it is not the most prominent star cloud in the area, it is of an appropriate size (about 15-20 arcmin across) that it would be easily noticed during a sweep. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1315 is an asterism of five or six stars at Bigourdan's position. Though he has only one measurement of it, it points exactly at the stars, so there is no question about the identification. ===== IC 1316 does not exist. Bigourdan has two observations differing by 2.3 seconds of time and 6 arcsec; the first position is the one given in the IC. Neither position, however, refers to any object on POSS1, not even stars. There is no possibility that this is the same as NGC 6901 or IC 5000, since Bigourdan observed these other objects on the same nights as IC 1316. My statement in RC2 that this is = N6901 and I5000 (which see) is therefore wrong. ===== IC 1318. Gamma Cygni is apparently near the center of an extended region of very faint nebulosity. Barnard discovered this photographically, and comments in his Milky Way atlas that most of the nebulae do not show in the printed version of the plate. It is, however, well-seen on the prints from the Palomar Schmidt. Rather than try to locate the center of this extended nebulae, I've simply adopted the position of gamma Cyg itself. Wolfgang has two additional patches of nebulosity labeled "IC 1318A" and "IC 1318B" at 20 16 36, +41 49.0 and 20 27 54, +40 00.0, respectively. He also includes the position of gamma Cyg for IC 1318 itself. ===== IC 1323. Javelle noted this as a very small star immersed in nebulosity. It is actually nothing more than a faint double star. Javelle's position is about 9 arcsec northeast of the center point, but is still good enough to let us know exactly which object he was looking at. ===== IC 1324. Howe's correction to the RA of this galaxy, found by Swift, is quoted by Dreyer in the Notes appended to the Second IC. And Howe got it right. ===== IC 1325 = NGC 6928 and IC 1326 = NGC 6930. Swift's RA's are correct, but he has his declinations reversed. He apparently changed his descriptions to match his positions, because the fainter of the two objects is in fact south- east of the brighter. Howe was the first to suggest the correct identifications with Marth's NGC objects. Reinmuth, however, made I1325 = N6927 and I1326 = N6928. These mistaken identities were copied by Carlson, and are sometimes still quoted today. Swift's detailed notes about the stars neighboring N6930 clearly identify it, though, and his RA of N6928 does the same for the brightest object in the group. Howe correctly notes that Swift saw the two brightest in the group, and Reinmuth is just as clearly wrong. ===== IC 1326 = NGC 6930. See IC 1325 = NGC 6928. ===== IC 1329 is an asterism of about a dozen faint stars located in the middle of a "trapezium" of four pretty bright stars. Swift saw the asterism as a low surface brightness nebula, but otherwise described the field correctly. The positions that Brian and I have estimated from the DSS define the center of the asterism well enough for it to be easily identified. I wonder if this object would today be described as nebulous by a careful observer working with a telescope equivalent to Swift's 16-inch refractor. ===== IC 1333 is almost certainly = IC 1334. Javelle's declination offset is 2.5 arcmin off the galaxy for his measurement of IC 1333. This offset depends on a different comparison star than the measurement for IC 1334; I wonder if the difference represents one turn (or an integer multiple of one turn) of the micrometer screw. The RA's agree to within 3 arcsec, and J's descriptions are similar. There are also no other galaxies or stars near his position for I1333 that he might have taken for a nebula. ===== IC 1334 = IC 1333, which see. ===== IC 1340 is a knot in the Veil Nebula, probably involving a star, though it is overexposed on the POSS1, so I can't say for sure. It is indeed, as Safford supposed, connected with NGC 6995 (which see), and is probably a part of that larger object found and sketched by JH. See NGC 6960 for more on the Veil and its various pieces. ===== IC 1343. Javelle's RA offset is 10 seconds of time in error. His printed position for the comparison star (BD -15 5863) is correct, as is his arithmetic, so he must have recorded the incorrect offset when he reduced the observation. ===== IC 1346 and IC 1354 = IC 1350. Javelle found these two galaxies on 7 August 1891. His positions with respect to a star that he called "BD -14deg 5910," however, refer to blank patches of sky. He went over the area again on 26 July 1892, finding only one object, IC 1350. Again, he used the "same" BD star as his comparison star -- but this time, his position for the galaxy falls within 2 arcsec of the GSC position for MCG -02-53-021. Where are his first two galaxies? If we look at Javelle's relative positions for the two, we find that the relative GSC positions of MCG -02-53-021 and MCG -02-53-019 are exactly the same. If we assume that these are in fact I1346 and I1354, then the offsets Javelle gives should point to the same star. In fact, they do: The star is GSC 5782-1182, about 5.5 sec preceding and 5.5 arcmin south of BD -14 5910, Javelle's nominal reference star. The position for the more southern star, combined with Javelle's offsets, point to the MCG galaxies as the ones which he actually found. Since his "third" object in the area, I1350, is also one of the galaxies, it is clear that it is a repeat observation of I1354. ===== IC 1350 = IC 1354. See IC 1346. ===== IC 1354 = IC 1350. See IC 1346. ===== IC 1363 is another of Espin's asterisms which he took to be a nebula. He describes this one as "Faint, extending N. from DM +46 3214, 9.4 mag." The magnitude applies to the star, not the "nebula." The densest part of the asterism is actually a bit northeast of the BD star, but stretching on north as Espin notes. Coincidentally, there is another star, just a bit fainter than the BD star, at the south end of the asterism. I make the asterism's size about 2 x 1.5 arcmin. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1369. Though credited only to Pechule in the IC, this object was independently found by Espin as well. Both observers called it nebulous with many faint stars involved. It is actually a small, not too sparse, cluster about 5 x 3.5 arcmin in size. There is no nebulosity in the immediate vicinity of the cluster, but the rich Milky Way background may have lent that sort of appearance to the object. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1370. Though I have labeled only the brightest galaxy in this compact group as IC 1370, it's possible that all the objects here (seven are galaxies and one is a superposed star) contributed to the visual image that Javelle found and measured. Three of the galaxies are very faint, though. While they make the photographic image quite spectacular (see especially the SDSS color image), they don't add much to the total light of the system. ===== IC 1376 may be one of the faint double stars near Safford's nominal position. But without a description -- there is none in the annual report where Safford's list originally appears -- we really don't have a way to tell for sure. The one other nebula that Safford found on the same night (NGC 7416) is placed by Safford near its true position, so there is no systematic offset that we can invoke. Digit errors are fairly common in Safford's positions (see e.g. IC 1030). So, I checked at reasonable small digit offsets from the nominal position but don't find any nebula at any of them. Larger errors in the 10's digits are still possible; I haven't checked them yet. So, without more evidence, we really can't do much with this. Another lost nebula, I'm afraid. ----- In early November 2018, I checked for errors of 10s of minutes and one degree, as well as a declination sign error, but found nothing. Still lost! ===== IC 1378 may be the apparent cluster of stars that I've listed in the table. There is nothing else near that fits Espin's position, and his note that there are "some faint stars" is appropriate. However, there is not the background of dense a Milky Way star field to reinforce the illusion of nebulosity (in fact, the "cluster" seems to sit in a void between Milky Way star clouds), so I'm not entirely convinced by the identification. Maybe there is a larger error of some sort in the position. Showing that, however, will have to wait until someone can look into Espin's original observing records. See IC 1299 for more. ===== IC 1382 = NGC 7056. There is a five minute error in Safford's RA. Once that is corrected, the RA falls within 15 seconds of NGC 7056, and the description fits well enough. ===== IC 1386. Javelle's description has left us with a bit of a mystery. He says "Faint. Appears as a double star surrounded by nebulosity; its nebulous character is certain." This suggests at least a superposed star or perhaps a double nebula. But the galaxy is a normal elliptical or early S0 with no trace of a double nucleus or superposed star. What did Javelle see that led him to call this a double object? A supernova is an obvious suggestion, but without more information, that is all it can be. Another idea might make one of the nearby very faint stars (the Pan-STARRS image shows two immersed in the corona) a flare star. But, as I said, with no more than Javelle's description, these are no more than guesses. ===== IC 1396 is unmistakable in spite of the sparse description in the IC. This may have been sent to Dreyer as a private communication; the IC gives no reference aside from "Barnard." Nor is there a direct reference to it in Barnard's Milky Way atlas, though he does discuss it quite a bit in his notes to Plate 82 -- without, however, attaching the IC number to it. The HII region itself is spectacular on the POSS1 prints, covering an area of about 3 deg x 2 deg. It has a pretty low surface brightness, but is bright enough that the many dark cometary globules superposed on it show up very well. There is a cluster of stars near its center; I've used the position of the brightest member (BD +56 2617 = SAO 033626) as that of the entire complex. This is a wonderful object. ===== IC 1400. Like several other of Espin's objects, there is no nebulosity associated with this small collection of about two dozen stars. They are probably nothing more than a random sprinkling of Milky Way field stars scattered over an area of 5 arcmin x 3 arcmin. This and IC 1402 are immersed in the northeastern end of a large Milky Way star cloud, probably defined more by the bordering dark nebulae than by being a true stellar association. See IC 1299 for more about Espin's short list. ===== IC 1402 is very similar to IC 1400 (which see), but at 2.5 arcmin x 2 arcmin is even smaller and has about half the number of stars as I1400. These two objects may be small clusters, but proper motions and photometry will be needed. See IC 1299 for more about Espin's short list. ===== IC 1414. Spitaler has among his novae this object which he places 58.10 seconds of time west, and 2 arcmin 43.5 arcsec south of "BD +7deg 4775 pr. bor." Since he did not have a good position for the star (he apparently adopted the BD position), the position for the nebula in IC1 is not too precise, either. Is the nova CGCG 403-007, or is it CGCG 403-008 as taken by CGCG? A more distant possibility is CGCG 403-010, adopted by MCG. Precessing Spitaler's position for his comparison star, I found that it falls close to BD +7deg 4775, which is in Tycho-2. Applying his offsets to the star leads directly to CGCG 403-008 as the correct galaxy. Curiously, however, his declination offset is about 20 arcsec too large -- is there a typo in his published table? ===== IC 1415 and IC 1416. These novae were found and measured once by Bigourdan during his first search for NGC 7164 (which see). Since that galaxy is about two minutes of time west of its nominal position, he did not succeed in his quest. The object he took to be N7164 is, in fact, illusory. He describes and places four stars near his nominal position perfectly, but there is only blank sky where he measured a "nebula." Unfortunately, the two novae are also illusions, though there are faint stars near the places he measured. In the case of IC 1415, his distances and position angles to two neighboring stars suggest that the faint star is indeed the object he saw. However, he specifically mentions the star as being involved on one side of the nebula: it is at 21 56 09.4, +01 07 04 (B1950.0) 25 arcsec to the north of his position for the nebula, so is almost certainly not the IC object. Bigourdan similarly pinpoints IC 1416 with respect to one of the stars near his phantom NGC 7164, 0.7 arcmin distant at PA = 340 degrees (though his measured position puts it 0.9 arcmin distant, given the GSC position for the star). The faint star in this case is 0.8 arcmin distant at PA = 5 degrees (the B1950 position is 21 56 17.1, +01 12 37). This is only 8-10 arcsec away from Bigourdan's measured position for the nova, close enough that the star might have been the object he saw. Given his lack of success with the other two objects, however, I doubt that this identification is correct. So, in the end, we are left with two more non-existent IC objects. ===== IC 1416 does not exist. See IC 1415. ===== IC 1419. See IC 1426. ===== IC 1420 is a double interacting galaxy. Swift apparently did not see it as a double object, but I've nonetheless given positions for both objects. ===== IC 1421. See IC 1426. ===== IC 1424 is a star about 0.7 arcmin southeast of the nucleus of NGC 7190. Bigourdan has only one measurement of it, and complains that it is very difficult to see because of its proximity to the NGC galaxy. The two objects are clear on the DSS. The galaxy chosen by Wolfgang is much too faint to have been seen by Bigourdan. In any case, his measurement of the star with respect to N7190 leaves no doubt about the identification. ===== IC 1426 is lost. Javelle's one measurement lands in empty space, though there is a faint, wide double star about 25 arcsec to the southwest that might possibly be his object. I doubt it, however -- he found and measured I1419 and I1421 on the same night, and he puts them both in their correct places. There may be a transcription error of some sort. Javelle's published offset is +2m 02.62s in RA and +2' 26.6" in Dec -- there are an awful lot of twos and sixes in there. Unfortunately, if he identified his comparison star correctly, there are no galaxies at reasonable offsets that digit errors in the offsets could lead to. I also looked at other star/galaxy pairs in the area, but none match the offsets, either. So, another lost nebula. ===== IC 1429 is a star. In addition, Bigourdan published his single estimated RA offset from his comparison star with the wrong sign. This is clear from his note that "... some time after the measures (sic), I noted, from memory, that a star of 11th magnitude is toward PA = 330 deg, d = 1' +-". That brighter star is there if the sign is in fact opposite from the printed minus sign. As with IC 1424, Wolfgang has picked up a galaxy that is much too faint for Bigourdan to have seen with his 30-cm refractor. ===== IC 1430 and IC 1431. Steve Gottlieb pointed out in an email in January 2018 that Javelle's comparison star is wrong -- rather than BD -14 6219 as Javelle lists, it is BD -14 6214 = HD 210032. While I picked up the correct galaxies when I went over the numbers two decades ago, I made no notes about the star or the fact that the IC positions are just a minute of time off. Steve suggests that this clean offset has misled us all this time to believe that Javelle made a simple digit error. In any event, Steve has found the correct cause of the position error. ===== IC 1431. See IC 1430. ===== IC 1433 is a triple interacting system that was seen as a single object by Javelle. However, he noted ".. elongated in the sense of the dirunal movement ..." -- as the triple clearly is -- so I've included all three in the IC number. ===== IC 1442 is a real cluster centered about 5 arcmin southwest of Espin's place. It stands out well on the POSS1 prints. Though Espin noted some nebulosity in the field, there is none. This is apparently another case where the rich Milky Way background gave the appearance of nebulosity in his eyepiece. Espin also saw only about a dozen stars. He gives no indication of how large the group is, but the cluster that exists on the sky has apparent diameters of 5 arcmin by 4 arcmin. There are roughly 30 stars included. See IC 1299 for more about Espin's new objects. ===== IC 1448 = NGC 7308, which see. ===== IC 1450 is a double star found by Bigourdan. His offsets from his comparison star unequivocally identify the double, and the NGC position is correctly transcribed from his published lists of new objects, so the identification is sure. ===== IC 1452 = "NGC 7374B". There is a six-degree error in the IC NPD, one of Dreyer's rare transcription errors. The Comptes Rendus list has the 1860 NPD printed correctly as "79 53". Once the six-degree error is corrected, IC 1452 is the high-surface-brightness companion to NGC 7374. Bigourdan's position is within two arcsec of the modern ones, and his notes mention not being able to see the 10th magnitude star nearby that Lord Rosse records at PA = 25deg, d = 5 arcmin from N7374; was this an asteroid? ----- Or was LdR looking at another galaxy? That kind of misdentification happens now and then in the Birr Castle observations. ===== IC 1457 may be a star. Bigourdan places this 2.6 seconds preceding and 46 arcsec north (not a measurement, only an estimate) of BD -06 6097 -- there is nothing there. About an arcmin southwest is a 13th magnitude star that I suggested in SEGC might be the object. Wolfgang's suggestion is a somewhat fainter star about 2 arcmin northwest of the nominal position. Carlson chooses a star, too, but does not give a position; I suspect it is one of these two. Neither of these impresses me much, so I've put question marks on both. ----- This is probably another of Bigourdan's "fausse images". But I've left the stars in the table as remote possibilities. ===== IC 1458 is probably also NGC 7441 (which see). The IC identification is not in doubt. ===== IC 1459 = IC 5265. This identity was, surprisingly, first suggested by Swift in his list reporting the discovery of IC 5265 and about 40 other nebulae. Nevertheless, Dreyer did not report this, but suggested instead that it might be NGC 7418 (that is about half a degree south, however). Swift's notes about the nebula being "... bet 2 sts p & f; nf of 2" make the identity clear. Barnard is credited with discovering I1459, but there is no publication given (but see below!). I don't see the object in any of Barnard's articles in my collection, so I assume that this was a private communication to Dreyer. Thus, I've had no way to check Barnard's position. Whatever the case, that position (as reported in the first IC) is 10 seconds too large in RA and 2 arcminutes too far north. This may have helped lead Swift and Dreyer somewhat astray -- though Swift's own position is even further off the mark. The southwestern nebula, by the way, is IC 5264 (which see). These make a striking pair with IC 1459 being one of the brightest objects in the southern sky that JH missed. He could have also easily picked up I5264, so he either missed sweeping the area, or he had one of his very few observing lapses. His observing assistant, John Stone, tells of a time that JH fell asleep and awoke to find the field absolutely blank -- Stone had continued to faithfully move the telescope along with the stars until it was pointed at Table Mountain! Perhaps a similar incident led to overlooking these two bright galaxies. ----- An email from Steve Gottlieb in March 2018 helps to clarify the situation surrounding the discovery of these galaxies: ... Speaking of Barnard's discoveries, his notebook also shows he discovered IC 5264 on 15 Dec 1889 while measuring IC 1459 (discovered two nights earlier) with the 12-inch refractor [at Lick Observatory]. ... (This notebook is available online at http://collections.ucolick.org/archives/attachments/ms_000300/ms_000304/MS000304-1.pdf .) Barnard gives several slightly different positions in his logbook, all representing various stages in his reduction of his observations. The IC position appears in a short table collecting the names and positions (for 1889.0) of the objects he saw that night in the area: A 22 39 15 -39 55.3 [= NGC 7368] B NGC 7421 [at 22 50 41, -37 56.2] C 22 53 26 -38 16.3 [= IC 5273] D NGC 7418 ["20' N and 2' p" NGC 7421] E 22 51 08 -37 01.3 [= IC 1459] For IC 1459, he says "There is no neb in N.G.C. at this place. It was very cometary and perhaps had a hazy tail." The position precesses to the IC place, so this is the position that he sent to Dreyer. The question arises now as to why he did not also send the position of the object that eventually became IC 5273. He describes this object as "1' diam, R, gbM, 12m with[?] some small xs [stars?]". This more or less matches the description that Swift provided a decade later. See the note for IC 5273 for more on this. ===== IC 1462 is a star. Bigourdan misidentified his comparison star as BD +07 4995 -- it is actually BD +07 4955. Once that change is made, his single measurement reduces to a position that is within an arcsec of the position measured on DSS for the star, so there is no question about the identification. Bigourdan himself suggested that the object might be nothing more than a star. The DSS image is slightly elongated, while other star images in the field are more nearly round. It's possible that this is in fact a very close double. ----- The object is in fact a double star. The two components are clearly shown in the SDSS and Pan-STARRS1 images; and the individual positions are available there as well as in Gaia DR2. I have adopted the Gaia positions. ===== IC 1463 is probably the southwestern of a pair of stars separated by about 20 arcsec. That southwestern star is itself a close double, but both components are easily see in the Pan-STARRS image. Howe suggested that the pair itself is Baron d'Engelhardt's object, but the original micrometric position is within 2-3 arcsec of the southern star. Unfortunately, I do not have Engelhardt's description or his offsets from his comparison star, so can't really judge this very well. Consequently, I've left the double as the IC object, but give the individual stars in the position table, too. ===== IC 1464 is indeed double as suspected by Javelle. Brian has taken a simple mean of 2MASS PSC positions for the two galaxies for the IC number itself. ===== IC 1465, like so many of Bigourdan's "novae," is actually an asterism. In this case, it is a double star about two arcmin southwest of NGC 7468. Bigourdan actually used N7468 as his comparison object on one of the two nights that he measured I1465. So, Wolfgang's suggestion in his earliest list that I1465 = N7468 is wrong. Similarly, my earlier surmise that this is a triple star -- the northeastern being a close blended double -- is also wrong. The POSS2 red and blue plates, the Pan-STARRS1 images, and the SDSS image show only two stars here. ===== IC 1470 is an HII region exactly at its discovery position. It was found nearly simultaneously by Spitaler (20 March 1892), Pechule, and Barnard (both 21 March 1892) while they were observing Comet Dennison (1892 II). The nebula has been incorrectly called a planetary nebula, and the IC number has also been incorrectly assigned to a much larger, much lower surface brightness diffuse nebula nearby. The position is a bit tricky to pin down; there seem to be hot spots within the nebula that the digital sky surveys are picking up. So, the position that I've chosen from the GSCA is something of a compromise. ===== IC 1475 is lost, at least for now. It does not appear in any of Barnard's published papers that I have in my files, so is apparently one of the nebulae for which Barnard sent a letter to Dreyer. There is nothing at the IC position, nor is there any obvious candidate object in the UK Schmidt field of the area. I suppose it is possible that this is either NGC 7507 or NGC 7513. The declinations bracket Barnard's nominal Dec, and the RA's are roughly 2 and 1 minutes of time too small, respectively. NGC 7507, a fairly bright elliptical galaxy, might look something like a "nebulous star" in a small telescope or on a photographic plate taken with a similarly small telescope. But I'm not willing to stretch to either NGC number without more information. So, until we can turn up that additional information, there just isn't much more to be said about this entry -- at least for now. ===== IC 1477 = NGC 7596 (which see). ===== IC 1478 = NGC 7594 (which see). Bigourdan recorded IC 5307 (which also see) as NGC 7594, and called N7594 a nova. In spite of the confusion of the names, his positions are good (as are Kobold's), so we can easily sort out the field. ===== IC 1480 = NGC 7607 is a double star within seven arcsec of Bigourdan's measured position. His description reads "Small cluster 20 arcsec in diameter in which I can distinguish at least two stars, perhaps accompanied by a little nebulosity." Many of Bigourdan's "novae" which are nothing more than single or double stars carry that same note: "accompanied by a little nebulosity." There is almost always no trace of nebulosity around these stars and asterisms on the sky, so there may be some systematic problem with his observations at the limit of his vision. Perhaps he was just pushing that limit too hard, or perhaps he did much of his observing on poor nights (but that is not borne out by his notes about seeing and transparency). Whatever the case, it happened a lot. The NGC number, which see, comes from Tempel, who independently discovered the "nebula" some years before Bigourdan. Tempel's position is also micrometrically measured, so there is doubt neither about the identity with the double, nor with Bigourdan's object. It was not until I was putting the IC into NED in the spring and summer of 2005 that I tripped across the identity with the NGC object. Working through the catalogues over the previous years, I had measured the positions for the stars twice, once for the NGC number, then again for the IC, without noticing that the numbers pointed to the same objects. Perhaps there are more to be found. If so, I will find them as I continue working through the IC. ----- Now it is November 2018, and I am pretty sure that all the NGC/IC identities have been caught, if not by me, then by Steve Gottlieb, Wolfgang Steinicke, Malcolm Thomson, or Courtney Seligman. There are others, too, who have been plowing through these catalogues for many years, so further identity discoveries are unlikely. But I could well be wrong -- I have been many times in the past! ===== IC 1483 = NGC 7638 (which see). ===== IC 1484. See NGC 7638. ===== IC 1485 = NGC 7639. See NGC 7638. ===== IC 1486 = NGC 7648. There is no problem with the NGC position of this, nor with the IC position, at least to within the usual errors of the sources. Bigourdan, in fact, found the identity before he prepared his big table for publication, so there he has Big. 241 = NGC 7648. Since he does not comment about it, I suspect that he simply overlooked the NGC entry until after he had reduced his data, and reported the IC object as a "nova". ----- The galaxy itself is Markarian 531, apparently with an eccentric, bright blue nucleus. The lens and arms are distorted, so this may be the result of a merger, but I don't find any papers that discuss this galaxy specifically, so that is a pretty wild guess. In any case, the accurate positions fall into two moderately well-defined bins: the blue nucleus is southwest of the center of the lens. For the galaxy itself, I've simply taken a mean of the two positions. ----- Check the SDSS or Pan-STARRS images for a close view of this peculiar central region. It seems likely to me, examining this image, that the red nucleus is the true center of the galaxy, so that is the position that I have finally chosen; Gaia EDR3 has good numbers for it. We need a high-resolution study of this thing! ===== IC 1487 = NGC 7649. Swift's position for NGC 7649 falls close to the brightest galaxy in the cluster Abell 2593, so there is no mistaking that identity. However, his position for IC 1487, which he found two years later, is very close to a fainter galaxy in the cluster. Just an arcminute or so to the southeast of this object is the second brightest cluster member, a double galaxy taken by Herbert Howe as IC 1487. He clearly described the two stars close to it, but makes no mention of the fainter galaxy at Swift's position. Swift's description of I1487, however, says, "8 m * f, F * nr nf" (he goes on to say "not [GC] 4659" = NGC 7653, some distance away from the cluster, so that turns out to be irrelevant to the discussion). Keeping in mind Swift's 32-arcmin field, his two stars are easy to pick out. They point to NGC 7649 as the most likely candidate as Swift's second object. There is the possibility that Howe's galaxy is in fact Swift's object, but that would require that Swift's "F * nr nf" actually be a "F * nr np." While there are a lot of errors of this sort in Swift's lists (e.g. NGC 6039, which see), it's easier to accept his observation at face value and think that he simply picked up the brightest cluster galaxy a second time. (He, in fact, has rediscovered galaxies in several instances; see, for example, IC 1270 = NGC 6488, and NGC 6497 = NGC 6498; and for a particularly striking example, the bright southern pair IC 5003 = IC 5029 = IC 5039 = IC 5046 and IC 5007 = IC 5030 = IC 5041 = IC 5047.) ===== IC 1488. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Not only that, but he gave the misidentified star the wrong BD number! Instead of BD +14 4982 -- for which he gives the position -- he has BD +14 4992. This occurs in both of his tables, so is not a printer's typo. The actual comparison star was BD +14 4986. When that is used, Javelle's offsets point exactly to a faint galaxy that matches his description perfectly. However, the IC position, based on BD +14 4982, is just a few arcmin north of NGC 7653 (which Javelle mentions in a footnote as being distinct from his new nebula). This has led some of the modern catalogues to suggest that IC 1488 is a reobservation of NGC 7653. They are all incorrect. ===== IC 1490 = IC 1524. Neither discovery position is very good; Swift's is, in fact, 30 minutes of time too small, a clear typo or transcription error. Safford's RA is 20 seconds too large, and 1.7 arcmin too far south. The RA error would be easily correctable as the galaxy is a fairly large and bright object -- but it has a somewhat fainter edge-on companion 4 arcmin south. MCG put "IC 1524" on the spindle instead of the brighter spiral. This in spite of the fact that the nominal position is closer to the brighter galaxy. Oh, well. We're sure of the identity of Swift's object as he mentions a "vF * close n" as well as "6 pB = Mag. sts p" in his notes. All these stars are there. Safford's object is missing its description. He complains in a footnote that the last 20 or so objects have no descriptions in the copy of his list that was sent to him after he left Dearborn. However, the position is similar to several others in his list in that it carries a digit error in RA. ===== IC 1493. Javelle mentions in his description of this faint galaxy that he suspects another object seven seconds preceding and an arcminute north. That suspected object is a star. ===== IC 1495 = IC 5327, which see. Also see IC 1499 for some possible confusion within Javelle's list. ===== IC 1497 does not exist. Bigourdan's single micrometric observation of it falls in empty space a little over an arcminute southwest of a faint galaxy. Wolfgang picked the galaxy as the IC object, but it is too faint to have been seen by Bigourdan. Bigourdan also made some error in his first publication of this object. The position that he attaches to it is for a pretty bright star (probably one of his comparison stars) 2.5 minutes following and 18 arcmin north of the micrometric position. He corrected this in one of his later Comptes Rendus articles, and Dreyer picked it up for the notes to the second IC. Not that it helped ... ===== IC 1498. See IC 1490. ===== IC 1499 is probably the double star listed in the position table. However, as Malcolm Thomson has pointed out, the faintness of the stars is at odds with Javelle's description "pB, pE [not pL as the IC has it], irr fig." His position (re-reduced) is also off the double by 9-10 arcsec, so we have some doubts about the identity. Javelle found IC 1495 the same night, and compared it to the same star. Is it possible that he interchanged the descriptions of the two objects? They might fit the sky a bit better if that were so. In the end, however, that is speculation. So, as there are no other uncatalogued nebulae nearby, or at a reasonable digit error, that he might have seen, I'll keep the IC number on the double for the time being, though with colons. ===== IC 1505. There is no possibility of mistaking the identification of this galaxy as Howe has provided a micrometrically measured correction to Swift's discovery position (which is 13 seconds of time off in RA, but very close in Dec). This clearly shows that the galaxy is MCG -01-60-020. Steve Gottlieb has suggested that the number might apply to the RC1 and RC2 galaxies A2339-03A and B. These two objects are a lovely interacting pair of spirals first noted by Zwicky, later observed at Mt. Wilson. The RC1 Notes identify them specifically as being south-following IC 1505, and they indeed are. They are illustrated in Arp's Atlas (Arp 295), and in Vorontsov- Velyaminov's Atlas (VV 34), as well as being included in MCG (MCG -01-60-021 and -022) and SEGC. On the POSS 1 prints, they appear to be further connected with a faint uncatalogued galaxy about two arcmin northeast of M-01-60-022. While there is no apparent connection with I1505, Arp 295 has a similar redshift, so is probably in the same group with the IC object. ===== IC 1510 is an interacting pair. Javelle noted "... could have two centers of condensation." Dreyer transcribed the remark simply as "biN". Either way, the IC number clearly applies to both objects. ===== IC 1511 and IC 1512 are both stars just south of the NGC 7768 group. Bigourdan's offsets -- estimated in the case of I1511, measured twice for I1512 -- point almost exactly at the stars, and his descriptions are consistent with this. Both Reinmuth and CGCG suggest that I1511 is identical to N7767, but this is not the case. Bigourdan has measurements of the star superposed on N7767 that place it over an arcmin northwest of I1511. ===== IC 1512. See IC 1511. ===== IC 1514 = NGC 7776. Also see NGC 7761 = IC 5361, another Leander McCormick mess, for more of the story. ===== IC 1512. See IC 1511. ===== IC 1520. In previous releases of the position lists, I had included an entry for a companion of this galaxy. That "companion" is just a part of the southern arm of the object, so I've deleted it. In that same spirit, I had noted this galaxy as "Similar to M51". While the basic structure of the two Sc's is the same, IC 1520 does not have an obvious interacting companion. ===== IC 1523 = IC 5368, which see. ===== IC 1524 = IC 1490, which see. ===== IC 1528. The IC1 NPD is four degrees in error. This is either a typo that Dreyer did not catch during proof reading, or it is his own transcription error in copying the NGC Appendix objects into the IC: the NPD is correct in the Appendix (but "... very few people ever think of referring to an appendix."). When the original position from Safford's report is used, it is clear that MCG -01-01-028 = A0002-07 in RC2 is the correct galaxy. In a footnote, Safford tells us that this object and four others (IC 138, IC 210, NGC 577, and NGC 7416) were "... found by A. N. Skinner, then [1867] assistant at Dearborn Observatory." This means that Skinner was actually the first to see all but NGC 7416; that was found just 2-3 years earlier by Marth. ===== IC 1530 = NGC 7831, which see. ===== IC 1531. See IC 1533. ===== IC 1533 is lost. Swift recorded it on 24 May 1898 during his last observing season. The other nebulae he found that night, IC 1531 and (perhaps) IC 1616, are more or less where he puts them, though his RAs are off by -20 and -7 seconds, respectively. Swift's declinations for those two are within two arcminutes of being correct. Assuming that the RA is at fault, I searched first east, then west of Swift's position for IC 1533, but found nothing. When I first went over the field, I suggested that the object might be MCG -01-01-044 at 00 10 23.3, -07 05 03 (J2000). However, the star field does not match Swift's description ("... bet 7 1/2m * n and 9m *s ..."). With the position mismatch and the star field mismatch, I am not sanquine about this possibility. It's also possible that this may be nothing more than a faint star. Swift's full description reads, "eeeF, vS, R, bet 7 1/2m * n and 9m * s, eee dif." ===== IC 1537 is the east-southeastern arm of NGC 55. It was first seen, described, and sketched by James Dunlop in the 1820s. JH provided a more detailed description and sketch a decade later. Both clearly noted that the south- following end of the nebula was much fainter than the north-preceding, and their estimated sizes (note the typo in Dunlop's paper: in place of 25 arcsec, read 25 arcmin) include the whole galaxy, not just the brighter portion. Furthermore, the fainter following part is clearly shown in both published sketches. In spite of these published observations, Swift claimed this part of N55 as his own discovery: "As Sir John Herschel does not mark it [N55] with a sign as being a remarkable object, lends [sic] plausibility to the idea that it [I1537] was not seen even by him." And this after implying that Dunlop had certainly not seen the fainter eastern end. Ahem. ===== IC 1538 does not exist. Bigourdan noted that he saw it only fleetingly on one night. He gave it an estimated position 17 seconds west, 2' 30" south of NGC 68 -- there is nothing there. There are a few 17th magnitude stars scattered around within 5-10 arcmin of his position, but all are too faint for him to have seen. This is most likely another of his "fausse images" (see e.g. N2529 and N2531). ===== IC 1539 = NGC 70. Bigourdan apparently did not take the time to look at LdR's published sketch of the field around NGC 68. If he had, he would have seen that LdR put an object just where he (Bigourdan) saw it half a century later, situated between two slightly brighter stars, a bit closer to the southern star. The object that Bigourdan called NGC 70 is a star. In fairness to Bigourdan, the NGC positions in the group are not too good (see NGC 67 for more), so he is not the only one to have misidentified galaxies here. ===== IC 1546 is the galaxy that MCG (and unfortunately others since) has called "N85B". There is no confusion in the historical literature about NGC 85 (which see), nor about I1546. But it's still worth noting here that the N85 suffixes are in use, and that the eastern of the two galaxies is in fact IC 1546. I clearly recommend dropping the suffixes on the NGC numbers, and only retain them for clarity when dealing with the modern catalogues. ===== IC 1547 is probably lost, even though Bigourdan gives us offsets from his star "j" (-4.0 seconds, and -2m 32s). This ends up in the neighborhood of IC 1546 (found by Javelle) but is well over a minute of arc east of that galaxy. Given that Bigourdan's position is only estimated, Javelle's object is still a distinct possibility, but the evidence is not overwhelming. ===== IC 1556. This one is a little embarrassing. Just starting out on my run through the IC in the mid-1970s, I picked the fainter of two neighboring galaxies as the one that Swift discovered at Echo Mountain in September of 1895 soon after setting up his observatory there. Looking at this again three decades later, I'm struck by my naivete at choosing the fainter object simply because the RA agrees better with Swift's obviously poor position (one second off the fainter galaxy, and six seconds off the brighter; his declination is 12 arcmin and 13.5 arcmin, respectively, too far south). I know now that Swift's positions are generally unreliable, and that even his descriptions are often not very reflective of the visual appearance of the nebulae he is observing. Nevertheless, in this case, he says "eeeF, pS, R, ee diff[icult]." The shape "R[ound]", more accurately reflects the shape of the brighter object than the fainter (which is quite inclined). His position and description, by the way, is the same in all three papers where he published this object, so there are no typographical errors. In any event, I've changed the identification to the more correct object, and fixed the position table. There are colons on the number now, too. I'll be looking at other of Swift's objects as I go through the big table again. Expect changes; even though embarrassed by my younger self, we need to get this right. Speaking of which ... Another possibility for this number is NGC 153. It is one minute of time preceding and 8 arcmin south of Swift's nominal position. But that is a relatively bright galaxy, so I do not think that Swift would have called it "eeeF ... ee diff". ===== IC 1557 is not NGC 161; the MCG got it wrong, though I don't see how. The IC object was found by Herbert Howe at Chamberlin Observatory in Denver on the night of 6 November 1899. Howe plainly states "...in field with [NGC] 161", and Dreyer transfers this into IC2 as "nr 161". This seems pretty clear to me. ===== IC 1560 does not exist. Bigourdan was searching for NGC 164 (which was too faint for him to pick up with his 30-cm refractor) when he found what he thought was "... an object 13.5 which may be a small cluster of a trace of nebulosity." He went on to say "Perhaps it is the nebula NGC 164 with an error of 1 minute in RA." It would also have to have an error of over 6 arcminutes in Dec to match NGC 164. In any case, Bigourdan's position lands on an empty spot with only 20th magnitude stars near it. This is another of his "fausse images". ===== IC 1564. See IC 1567 and IC 5385. ===== IC 1565 is probably also IC 1567, which see. ===== IC 1567 is probably IC 1565. At the end of his first list of "novae", Howe has four nebulae (IC 1564, 5278, and 5385 are the others) for which he did not measure good positions. There is nothing at any of the positions, but expecting that, we can cast about the fields, checking for objects that he might have seen. In this case, the obvious choice is IC 1565. It is the brightest in a sub- group of Abell 0076. While there are other galaxies nearer Howe's crude position, this one is by far the brightest in the area and almost certainly the one he picked up. ===== IC 1572 is one of Bigourdan's imaginary nebulae. He has only one estimated position of it one night in 1888. There is no problem with his reduction of his position angle and distance to the comparison star (the same star he used for his first observations of NGC 213, which is just where he says it is) -- but there is nothing, not even a faint star, at his reduced position. I expect he was pushing his optics again. He looked for the object again nine years later in 1897, but did not measure it. This second observation may refer to another object as he says, "Stellar object, seen a little preceding NGC 213." (I can't come up with a reasonable candidate for this object, either.) His first observation puts it 1.5 seconds following N213 and 14 arcmin south. So, even if the first object is a "fausse image", it is probably a different one than this second. In any case, I1572 is lost. ----- In October 2016, Courtney Seligman suggested that Bigourdan's declination offset bears the wrong sign. If it is +6' 58", then his estimated position falls close to the star superposed on NGC 213. However, as Courtney also points out, the fact that the star is so close to the NGC galaxy suggests that if this really were Bigourdan's "nova", then he (Bigourdan) would have said so. Another problem with the idea is that Bigourdan explicitly mentions the superposed star in his observation of NGC 213 on the same night that he "saw" his new "nebula". Altogether, then, the idea of a switched sign may be possible, but I do not think it likely to be what really happened here. So, IC 1572 is still lost. ===== IC 1577 = IC 48, which see. ===== IC 1580 is a double star, just 0.2 arcmin south of Bigourdan's estimated position. He saw it only one night, and called it "of doubtful aspect". ===== IC 1589 is a double star, probably the one at the position given in the main table. It is some distance off Swift's place, but his positions determined after the move to Lowe Observatory are notoriously bad. His description clearly matches that of a double star seen through some rather thick layers of air. This is plausible as the object has a zenith distance of almost 70 degrees from the latitude of Echo Mountain (+34 deg). This is one of the few cases where Swift's descriptions vary among his published lists. This object appears in four different journals, three in Swift's third list of nebulae found at Lowe (MN 57, 631; PASP 9, 223; and Pop. Astron. 5, 426, all 1897), and in the collected list in AN 3517, 1898. In the short lists, he gives the description as "pB ["fB" in MN], eeS, E; with 132 and 200 [only 200 in Pop. Astron.] looks like a nebulous D Uranus"; while the AN "Catalogue No. 11 of Nebulae", the description reads "eF, eeS, R; ..." The position is given the same in the three short lists (00 46 45, -35 00 43; 1900), while in the longer AN list, it appears as 00 46 45, -35 00.5. In principle, we should probably take the position from the later AN list, but I've decided to include both in the big position table. See IC 1740 for a similar double star that Swift found just over a month later in September of 1897, and NGC 3260 for more on the double objects that interested him so much. ===== IC 1590 is a star cluster involved in NGC 281 = IC 11. Bigourdan says of it, "In the region of NGC 281, there is in addition to the nebulosity suspected near BD +55 191, a large number of stars forming a very large cluster, without concentration." He gives no position in his big tables, but does have one in his tables of new objects, and in the CR article from which Dreyer took the IC position. That position is about 3 arcmin southeast of the center of a group of stars that Brian Skiff and I independently chose as IC 1590. I make the diameters 6 arcmin by 4 arcmin, so am not convinced that this is Bigourdan's object. Without better evidence from Bigourdan's published material, though, there is not much point in trying too hard to find this object. It sits in the middle of a large region of star formation, and any position we take in the area will get us some hot, young stars. ===== IC 1591 = NGC 276, which see. ===== IC 1593 is a double star. Bigourdan found it on a poor night (he notes, "The sky being poor, the description was made in bad conditions."), and clearly thought it a marginal object ("... semi-nebulous, semi-stellar, without perceptible detail."). Nevertheless, he measured it and included it in his list of "novae" as number 367. His reduced position points directly at the double. ===== IC 1604 is lost, probably forever, thanks to Swift's exceedingly crude published position: "00 53 00, -17?". His description "pF, vS, 7 1/2m * np, F * near sp" fits no galaxies in the area. That is where this stood in the late 1990s when I last looked at it. Going through the list again pulling out very accurate positions for the NGC and IC objects, I ran across this in February 2014. This time, I assumed that the Declination could be anywhere between -12 and -22, so searched that entire 10-degree swath of sky centered on Swift's nominal RA. The only galaxy in that belt that comes even close to fitting Swift's description is MCG -03-03-011. The stars are a problem, though: The 7th mag star is nearly straight north, though just a bit preceding; while the faint star to the south is south-southeast rather than southwest as Swift claims. The galaxy is also rather large, but the arms are pretty low surface brightness features, so Swift probably would not have seen them if this is his object. On the positive side is the RA: The galaxy is very close to being exactly one minute of time east of Swift's RA. We don't know about the declination, of course; it could be anywhere within 5 or 10 degrees of Swift's estimate. While discussing all of this, it's worth keeping in mind that this was one of Swift's last discoveries, perhaps even the very last (more below). For whatever reason (perhaps his vision was beginning to deteriorate? perhaps his game leg was giving him increasing trouble? perhaps he was simply getting tired as he aged?), his positions got worse as time went on at Lowe Observatory. It may be that another galaxy in a neighboring 10 degree swath is actually the one he saw. We can perhaps do a search of the known bright galaxies in that patch of sky to see if one better fits the few clues that he left us than MCG -03-03-011. Well. Here is the rest of my earlier note on this object. Wolfgang takes a faint galaxy near NGC 333, while MCG puts the number -- with a question mark -- on MCG -03-03-009. Neither can be Swift's object; the stars are just not there. This object, by the way, is from Swift's last list. If we take his discovery date at face value, this is the very last object that Swift "discovered" -- his listed date is 19 November 1898. However, that makes it the last by 5.5 months; his previous discoveries are from 2 June 1898 and are preceded by an unbroken string of discoveries going back to 1895, soon after he established his observatory on Echo Mountain. So, I think that he put the year into his table at the incorrect spot, and that this object, along with six others, was actually found on 19 Nov 1897. But that is a supposition. See IC 4550 for more on this. ===== IC 1606 is also lost. I first noted that during work on SEGC, then finally did a thorough search in February 2014. Swift says in his big AN 3517 collection, "eeF, pS; nearly bet a 7m * p and a 9m * nf, nearer the latter." He gives a discovery date of 14 September 1895 (in AJ 17, 27, the discovery date is 18 December 1895, while in PASP 8, 304 the date becomes 18 September 1895). There is nothing at all near his discovery position, nor is there anywhere in the area the configuration of stars and the nebula that he describes. The nearest such configuration involves three stars: the 7th mag star is at (all positions for B1950, estimated from HEASARC's SkyView) 00 53 00.2, -12 49 23; the 9th mag star is at 00 53 35.7, -12 47 01; and the third fainter star, standing in for Swift's nebula, is at 00 53 30.1, -12 49 17. This is pure speculation, of course; I doubt that this is what Swift was looking at. I also checked at the usual digit errors (+ or - 1 and 10 minutes of time, + or - 1, 5, and 10 degrees of arc), and found nothing. Perhaps you will have better luck. ===== IC 1609 is not NGC 324, which see. ===== IC 1612. It's not quite clear which of the clumps of stars in the SMC near Stewart's position, given only to an arcminute, is his intended "nebula". I've not-quite-arbitrarily taken the several northeastern clumps; they seem to have a somewhat richer background than the two or three southwestern clumps, so might have shown up somewhat better on his plate. I've also called this a star cloud rather than a cluster, but that is pretty arbitrary, too. I really need to look into the work done on this object to make a really knowledgeable type assignment. ===== IC 1613 is one of the best-known IC objects, of course being one of the very large, low-surface-brightness irregulars in the Local Group. Wolf's discovery note (in English) is in MNRAS 67, 91, 1906. The position is necessarily an approximation. There is no nucleus, so I have estimated the center of the bar. Probably a better position could be derived from isophotes, but this would hardly be worth the effort at this point. ===== IC 1614. For some time, I questioned the identity of this galaxy, thinking it might be too faint for Javelle to have seen. I was wrong, of course; his micrometrically measured position is within a few arcseconds of the galaxy, and his description -- aside from the position angle -- is appropriate. The 15th magnitude star that he notes as being near the galaxy is about an arcminute to the southeast. ===== IC 1616. This is one of Swift's final discoveries, probably found the night of 24 May 1898. Swift claims 1897 in his published list, but the only two other nebulae he found on 24 May are listed for 1898. I suspect that is the correct date, but it is, of course, possible that 1897 is correct for all three. Swift's position is not bad, and the line of "three stars like belt of Orion" is obvious near to the south. Also see IC 1533, where this might have played a role in the recovery of that missing object, but didn't. ===== IC 1623 is the sort of galaxy that Vorontsov-Velyaminov would have called a "nest" if he had seen the DSS2 images. As is, he called it an interacting pair (it is VV 114 and Arp 236). There are eight or nine interacting components most easily seen in the DSS2IR image. The positions I've taken refer to the approximate middle of the five or six bright blobs in the western component, and the middle (brightest) of the three eastern components. ----- The pair has been well studied; see NED for the details. The eastern galaxy is an infrared source, while the western is a "starburst" system with many bright star-forming regions knots. The beautiful Pan-STARRS color image is a perfect demonstration of the differences between the two galaxies. After some consideration, I've adopted positions for some of the knots from the Pan-STARRS list. These are more or less representative of the central regions of the galaxies and the plumes/knots associated with them. ----- Courtney Seligman has alerted me to a spectacular HST image of this object. There are at least two galaxies mixed up in this collision, and perhaps more. All of us will be very interested to follow along with the detailed studies sure to come out of these observations. The image is currently at https://esahubble.org/images/potw2125a/ , and it will be up on Courtney's site (http://cseligman.com/text/atlas.htm) soon if it's not already there. ===== IC 1636 has a star superposed about 5 arcsec northwest of the nucleus. On the POSS1 prints and digitized images, it looks like an interacting companion. But the SDSS clearly shows it to be a star. ===== IC 1641 is a cluster in the SMC, Lindsay 87. I used to think that it could also carry the number NGC 422, but am sure now that it does not (see NGC 422 for that story). For many years, we've all taken another, fainter SMC cluster (Hodge-Wright 62) as IC 1641. But that makes no sense as Stewart's position falls much closer to the brighter cluster that he must have picked up on his plate. ===== IC 1642 = IC 1645. Javelle found I1642 = J842 on 29 Jan 1897, and used BD +14 188 as his comparison star. Unfortunately, the BD position of this star is in error by about 1.5 arcmin. Therefore, so is the calculated position of I1642. Using the GSC position of the star, however, and Javelle's offsets, the object's position is within 6 arcsec of IC 1645 = J844. Javelle measured this on two nights at the end of 1897 (24 Nov and 17 Dec) along with IC 1646 = J845. He used BD +14 175 as his comparison star for both of these galaxies. Since the position for that star is (coincidentally) pretty good in the BD, Javelle's calculated positions for the galaxies are similarly good and there is no mistaking their identities. ===== IC 1645 = IC 1642, which see. ===== IC 1646. See IC 1642. ===== IC 1651. Bigourdan has two measurements of this on 25 November 1897, and he says (my translation), "Nebula 13.3-13.4 or 13.4, pretty stellar, difficult to see because of a star 13.1 situated at PA = 195 degrees, distance = 0.2 arcmin; now and then, it briefly seemed that the nebulosity surrounded this star 13.1, to which the measurements referred." There is no nebulosity here, just three stars. This led me to suggest in the mid 70s when I first went over the field, that all three stars constituted IC 1651. Reading Bigourdan's description nearly 40 years later, I see that we should probably finger only the northern of the stars as IC 1651 (better late than never ...). The star with m = 13.1 which he measured is the middle of the three, and the southern star is probably not involved unless it contributed to the suggestion of nebulosity that caught Bigourdan's eye in the first place. ===== IC 1653 = NGC 443, which see. ===== IC 1656 = NGC 447, which see. ===== IC 1657 = IC 1663. Here is another case where Swift has rediscovered one of his own galaxies -- just seven weeks later. On 4 Sept 1897, he found a nebula which he described as "eeF, S, eeE, a ray; no sts near." There is such an object about 20 seconds preceding, and 0.7 arcmin north of his position; we can confidently assign the number IC 1657 to this. 20 second (or more) RA errors are common in Swift's lists. His second position, from 30 Oct 1897, is not as good. It is 2 minutes of time too large, and 2 degrees too far north. But he provides us with a more detailed description: "eeF, vE 350 deg; 5 sts sf, 3 have distant companions." This fits the nebula and the neighboring stars very well, too. Since there are no other galaxies in the area that fit this description, and since the position errors are digit errors, the identity is all but certain. Dreyer has another possible declination (30 arcmin south) for IC 1663 in the summary description. This comes from Swift's "5th Catalogue" of nebulae found at Lowe Observatory. Swift published these in several different places, and collected them all in a long list -- which Dreyer called "Swift XI" -- in AN. The shorter lists sometimes have more detailed descriptions, while the longer one occasionally has slightly revised positions (not that they help much ...). In this case, the declination published in the fifth list is a probably a typo as the long list position is just two degrees off (rather than 1.5 deg). This is, in fact, what caught my eye as I first tracked down IC 1663 during preparation of SGC: the minutes of declination are almost identical for both entries in the long list. A final comment: Swift's 11th and 12th "catalogues" (his final two lists), those with the nebulae that he found at Echo Mountain, contain more errors than his earlier lists assembled at Warner Observatory in Rochester, NY. By the time he made these observations, his eyesight was beginning to fail, and he was often distracted by having to show tourists around the observatory. I suspect that these two factors alone contributed to his increased error rate. ===== IC 1658 = NGC 444, which see. ===== IC 1661 = NGC 451, which see. ===== IC 1663 = IC 1657, which see. ===== IC 1664 is only two stars, roughly equal in magnitude, oriented southwest- northeast, and separated by about 30 arcsec. They are not "... inv in eeF neb" as Stewart describes them, unless he is talking about the SMC background on which the stars are superposed. This is the outskirts of the SMC, though, not the rich inner region, so I suspect a plate defect was involved as well. Andris Lauberts picked a faint galaxy some distance from the nominal position for the ESO catalogue, while Wolfgang Steinicke has only the southwestern star in his earlier lists. This star does have a faint companion less than 2 seconds of time preceding, so Wolfgang may have thought that these were the two stars that Stewart described. Perhaps the fainter star added to the impression of nebulosity on Stewart's plate. ===== IC 1665 is a close triple star at Javelle's position. He mentions in his description that he saw two or three stars surrounded by nebulosity. Aside from the fact that there is no nebulosity involved with the stars, Javelle's observation is accurate, so the identity is not in question. ===== IC 1667. See IC 1671 = IC 93. ===== IC 1670 is probably the brighter, eastern of the two galaxies here. The nuclear bulge, the brightest part of the galaxy, pretty closely matches Swift's description: "vF, pS, lE; wide D * near nf; f of 2". The wide double is indeed where Swift places it, but his comment "f of 2" is wrong. It most likely applies to IC 1667 with "f" changed to "p". See IC 1671 = IC 93 for more on this. ===== IC 1671 = IC 93. Here is a galaxy that Swift found twice, once in September of 1889, and again in December of 1895. His positions are far enough apart (35 seconds of time, and 1.8 arcmin) that he and Dreyer thought that the two objects were different. On the second night, Swift also found two other galaxies nearby (I1667 and I1670), reinforcing his belief that he had not seen I1671 before. However, both of his descriptions mention the 7th or 8th magnitude star 47 seconds following and an arcmin north (the first IC has this as 14 seconds, but Swift's 9th list has it correctly printed as "46 seconds"). This star alone secures the identity of Swift's two objects. Swift has some further confusion in his description, however. He calls this the "p of 2", while it is clearly the "f of 2" by the numbering and RA's in his 9th list. He calls IC 1670 the other member of the pair, but that is 15 arcmin north. I think that he meant to have IC 1667 as the actual preceding of the pair, as that is just 5 arcmin west-northwest of I1671. ===== IC 1674 is probably a defect on the 24-inch Bruce plate that Stewart examined. There is nothing at his position on the modern sky survey plates, and the galaxy chosen by ESO as a possible candidate is 17 seconds in RA and 19 arcmin in Dec off the nominal position. ===== IC 1682. The sign on Javelle's NPD offset is incorrect. When the correct sign is used to re-reduce his position, his observation falls within 2-3 arcsec of the modern positions. ===== IC 1686 = NGC 499. Dreyer has pretty well sorted out the NGC identifications in the NGC 507 cluster, so I'm a bit surprised that Javelle has a mistaken identification for N499. There is no question that he measured N499 -- his position falls within two arcsec of the modern position for the galaxy, and his description is perfect for the galaxy. Yet he has a footnote on his listing for I1686 that states that he "also measured NGC 499." So, we can only shrug and say that he blundered on this one. See NGC 499 for a bit more on the earlier observations in the area. ===== IC 1689 is probably an example of the so-called "polar ring galaxies", similar to NGC 2685. See, for example, Hagen-Thorn and Reshetnikov (1997A&A...319..430H), Cox and Sparke (2004AJ....128.2013C), and Sil'chenko (1998A&A...330..412S), and references therein for more information on these extraordinary galaxies. ===== IC 1693. There is no question about the identity of this galaxy: it is the southeastern of a line of three. Howe's micrometrically measured position was copied correctly into the IC, and is accurate. The interesting thing about the object is that it has a star or compact galaxy superposed on the northern end. Zwicky included the compact object in his first list as "I Zw 6", but later withdrew it so that it does not appear in his "Red Book" (Catalogue of Selected Compact and Post-Eruptive Galaxies). A note on the back of his finding chart for the object shows that he thought it might be a star rather than a galaxy. This pair of objects has also been confused with the middle (brightest) galaxy in the line, CGCG 385-099. It is clearly not that object, however, as both are included with their correct positions in a 1964 ApJ paper by Zwicky and Humason. Zwicky also refers on his finding chart to IC 1693 (though without the IC number) by the running number (32) from that paper. CGCG 385-099 is number 31, and it is not IC 1693. ===== IC 1696 is not the same galaxy as NGC 530 = IC 106 (which see). It was found by Howe in 1900 who specifically noted the difference in positions in a note to his table. ===== IC 1698 has the wrong comparison star name, but the correct position, listed in Javelle's table. The star is actually BD +14 215, not BD -0 217 (that is the comparison star for IC 1697). Note that IC 1699 (which see) is probably a second observation of this galaxy. ===== IC 1699 is probably a second observation of IC 1698 (which see). There is no nebula at the offsets Javelle has published, nor are there any at the offsets implied by changing their signs. However, if the north polar distance offset is changed to read +0 arcmin 49.6 arcsec (from +5 arcmin 49.6 arcsec), then IC 1699 would fall within Javelle's usual error range of IC 1698. The two observations of I1700 show this pretty well -- his offsets for that differ in RA by 1.13 seconds and in NPD by 5.9 arcsec. IC 1699 is sometimes taken to be UGC 978. However, that has a lower surface brightness, so would have been more difficult to see with a long-focus refractor. Also, Javelle's published offsets would have been around +13.8 seconds, and -1 arcmin 22 arcsec (NPD), nowhere near the numbers that he gives. ===== IC 1700 = IC 107 (which see). Javelle claims in a footnote to his table that he also measured IC 107 (it could possibly be UGC 978, sometimes taken for IC 1699, which see). Unfortunately, he does not give that measurement, so we do not know for sure which object he took to be the one seen by Swift. However, the observations that he does give for IC 1700 point unmistakably to the brightest of three in the area, which is in fact the one that Swift picked up. ===== IC 1703 = NGC 557, which see. ===== IC 1704 and IC 1706. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. It is not, as he supposed, BD +13 214, but another (not in the BD) about 5 arcmin northeast. The two galaxies are exactly at the offsets that Javelle measured for them from this star. ===== IC 1706. See IC 1704. ===== IC 1707 does not exist. This is probably another of Bigourdan's "fausse images." There is nothing in his precise position, though he saw and measured the object on only one night when the "sky [was] perfectly clear." He describes it as "a star 13.2--13.3 near which is found a diffuse nebula of which precise observations can't be made." This suggests that I1707 might be one of the two double stars about 2 arcmin following Bigourdan's position (01 25 07.8 +36 51 31; B1950.0). The fainter double is at 01 25 15.0 +36 51 26 (B1950.0, HCo); the brighter is at 01 25 20.94 +36 51 16.0 (B1950.0, GSC). If one of these is Bigourdan's nova, then both his position angle and distance from his comparison star must be wrong. An error in one or the other is possible -- errors in both are unlikely. Did he misidentify his comparison star? I don't think so: no other bright star in the area has an object matching Bigourdan's description in his relative position. In addition, he measured NGC 551 four times on the same night, claiming that he used the same comparison star -- which he, in fact, did. Both the galaxy and the star are correctly identified there, and Bigourdan's position for N551 is very close to GSC's. Finally, to confuse us even more, I1707 has a typo in the north polar distance in the IC (for 57, read 54), and a typo in the RA on page 212 of Bigourdan's list of novae (for 23, read 22; the RA on page 215 is correct). ===== IC 1709 = NGC 568. Swift does not mention the NGC object in his observation from 4 September 1897. Since the galaxy is similar to others that he found in his far southern sky surveys from Lowe Observatory, the identity is virtually certain. The much fainter companion object suggested by ESO as I1709 is unlikely to be Swift's object. It is near enough to N568 that Swift would have noted it as a companion to the brighter galaxy. ===== IC 1710 = NGC 575, which see. ===== IC 1712 = NGC 584. The IC object is one of Barnard's discoveries that he sent directly to Dreyer -- it does not appear in any of his published papers. This is a shame since I'd be very interested in knowing why Barnard thought this object was a "nova": the IC position is identical to the NGC position, and this is very large, very bright galaxy. And how did Dreyer miss this, too? It's possible that Barnard's object is one of the other galaxies in the area (NGC 586, perhaps?). But we'd need to search his observing logs to know for sure. ----- Since many of Barnard's observing logs are now (March 2018) available online, Steve Gottlieb has done a search of them, and has found that IC 1712 is indeed identical to NGC 584. Here is what he had to say about this in an email in early March 2018: Barnard's observing log shows he found IC 1712 on 10 Dec 1888 while observing comet C/1888 RI (one of his discoveries). Remarkably, he noted "The comet's nucleus passed some 30[arcseconds] N of the nucleus of the nebula. The comet is probably 5 times as bright as the nebula and is a great many times larger." We know the discovery was reproted directly to Dreyer who failed to notice the match in position with NGC 584. But Barnard later added the comment "NGC 584" in his notebook, obviously after getting around to checking the NGC, so he was aware of the equivalance but perhaps didn't pass this information along to Dreyer. (You may see this page in Barnard's notebook at Lick Observatory's historical site http://collections.ucolick.org/archives/attachments/ms_000200/ms_000289/MS000289-1.pdf .) This, of course, clinches the identity of IC 1712 with NGC 584, and I think that Steve's speculation on the lack of a follow-up letter from Barnard to Dreyer is accurate, too. I suspect that anyone in a similar situation has had the same kind of memory lapse in the face of the continuing pressures of ordinary work. ===== IC 1713 is a star. CGCG put the number on NGC 587, but Bigourdan measured that galaxy on the same night as he did I1713, so they cannot be identical. In addition, Bigourdan's position is within a quarter of an arcsec of the modern position of the star, and he was not at all sure about the existence of nebulosity around his object. This is another identification that Malcolm Thomson cleaned up for us. ===== IC 1714. This is the 7th object in the very last list of new nebulae that Lewis Swift published, his "List No. 12 of Nebulae discovered at Lowe Observatory, Echo Mountain, California, for 1900.0". The list appeared in MN 59, 568, 1899, when Swift was 79 years old; it presents us with a list of 45 nebulae, all with poorly-determined positions, at least one demonstrably in error by 2 degrees in declination, with a couple of others more than a degree off in RA. One object (IC 5179 and its synonyms, which see) was found by Swift on three different occasions and received three IC numbers, and another (IC 5003 and its synonyms, which see) four. So, I was not surprised to find the seventh object (found on the same night as one of the discoveries of IC 5179) missing from its nominal position on the sky. Taking the lead from IC 5183 (= IC 5179), the other object found on 20 Sept 1897, I am going to suggest that the declination is probably in error rather than the RA. Before I get to my candidate objects, here is Swift's description, copied verbatim from the MN list: "eeF, R, S, lE, 8m * n, e dif[ficult]." The only clue he gives us that is really worth noting is the 8th magnitude star to the north. We will assume that this star was within the 33-arcmin field of Swift's preferred eyepiece. If this is the case, then the best candidate is probably NGC 594 close to exactly three degrees south of Swift's position. The star is about 10 arcmin north, just a bit to the west, and the galaxy fits Swift's description. Another candidate with a star about 12 arcmin to the northwest, is just three degrees north of Swift's position. This one, MCG -02-05-006, bears no NGC or IC number, and is somewhat fainter than the other viable candidates. IC 141 is close to the same RA as Swift's -- as are NGC 594 and the MCG galaxy -- but its declination is about 1 degree, 13 arcmin south of Swift's nominal place, a less "desirable" difference than an even number of degrees. And the star is well out of Swift's field if the galaxy is assumed to be centered. NGC 599 and NGC 601 are also possibilities, but they are a pair at about 12 arcmin with roughly the same RA and brightness -- if Swift saw one, why not the other? And their bright stars are southeast and southwest, not north. Finally, the very faint object (at 01 32 53.2, -13 01 30) that I picked out many years ago in Scotland when I was young and naive is just too faint for Swift to have seen with his 16-inch refractor. So, I am going to suggest that Swift re-discovered NGC 594 -- but I won't insist on it. ===== IC 1716 is a star just about eight arcsec north of Bigourdan's position. There is no nebulosity associated with it. ===== IC 1717 is probably a plate defect. Stewart calls it "eF, eS, vE at 25 deg, *N." It's possible that the notation of a stellar nucleus indicates that a star was involved, but the position is not accurate enough to suggest which one. An examination of the original plate will be necessary to sort this one out. By the way, this was the only new object that he found on the plate (Bruce plate 3974). ===== IC 1723. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Rather than using BD +8 272, he actually used +8 268. Once this change is made, his micrometric position falls right in line with the modern positions. The galaxy is bright enough that it's a bit surprising that it was not found before the NGC was published. ===== IC 1737 is only two stars. Bigourdan's place falls south of the brighter, western of the pair. He measured it only one night in 1891 (his two measurements on that night disagree by over 10 arcsec), but claimed to have recovered it on another night in 1903. In spite of the agreement with his description, the galaxy (with 3 stars close west) 7 arcmin to the south -- which I had chosen in the early 70s as I1737 -- is almost certainly not his object. He used the same comparison star to measure NGC 687 on the same two nights he saw this; his position for N687 is within an arcsecond of the modern value. This makes a 7 arcmin Dec error highly unlikely, and the RA is also three seconds off. Malcolm caught this one, too. He has sharp eyes, thank goodness! ===== IC 1740 may be the double star at 01 51 36.9, -29 55 23 (J2000) or it may be the double at 01 48 51.7, -30 05 12. The first is closer to Swift's position, but the second is a pair of nearly equally bright stars. That would fit Swift's description considerably better. Other doubles that might have been Swift's objects are at 01 51 22.7, -26 22 05 and 02 21 22.44 -29 55 19 -- both possible with digit errors in Swift's position -- though they are further afield from the nominal position. Swift makes a great deal of this object (and a near twin, IC 1589, which see) as a close pair of nebulous stars, so Lauberts's suggestion that this one may be NGC 749 is certainly not correct (N749 has no companion, star or galaxy). Swift claims to have seen the object several times at different powers, but given that there is nothing at his position, we can't say for sure just what he did see. I'm leaning toward the second pair noted above, but we may never know for sure. Also see NGC 3260 for more on Swift's double objects. ===== IC 1741. In his paper where Herbert Howe announces the discovery of this nebula, he adds a note: No. 4 [in Howe's list] should perhaps be reckoned as identical with [NGC] 690, though the N.G.C. place of the latter is 1h 44m 31s -17d 14'.0 when reduced to 1900.0 [01 49 18, -16 44.2 for J2000]. However, Leavenworth's declinations are not apt to be so erroneous as would be the case if No. 4 were identical with 690. In fact, the two objects are different galaxies. Leavenworth's sketch shows the two stars northeast of NGC 690 in their correct relative locations and brightnesses. And, as Howe suggests, Leavenworth's declination is less than an arcminute off the true declination. Leavenworth's RA, however, is east of the galaxy by 1m 30s, a common error in the Leander McCormick lists. ===== IC 1743 = NGC 716, which see. ===== IC 1744 = NGC 719, which see. ===== IC 1751 = NGC 741, which see. ===== IC 1752 is apparently an unresolved linear conglomerate of two stars with a faint galaxy between them: Javelle noted that the nebula was "merged with a star of mag. 14-15." I've included all three in the table of positions. ===== IC 1758 was found by Herbert Howe who says of it, "[The object] is a star of mag. 11 with very slight outlying nebulosity." There is indeed a star superposed on the galaxy, so I've included both in the position table. ===== IC 1759 = IC 1760, which see. ===== IC 1760 = IC 1759. The position for No. 30 in Swift's 11th collection (in AN 3517) of new nebulae is one degree too far north. The object originally appeared in his 5th list of nebulae found from Lowe Observatory (it is number 8), and actually has the correct declination in the AN version of that list. Unfortunately, Swift apparently copied it from the AJ version, so its IC position is wrong. Dreyer noted the discrepancy, though he omitted Swift's note "Cordoba 681 sp." That is wrong, too, though -- CD -33 681 is southeast of the galaxy, not southwest. However, the star number clinches the declination, and therefore the identification -- the stars at this RA in the -32 zone have numbers in the range of 740 to 760. The declination of IC 1759 is roughly correct (it is 3 arcmin off), though the RA, like that of I1760, is 25 seconds too small. ===== IC 1761 was not seen by Lewis Swift as some have suggested (see NGC 768 for that story). Javelle discovered and measured it on 18 December 1897; he remeasured it on 20 November 1903. His comparison star was HD 12134 = BD -0 301 on both nights, and his observations pinpoint the galaxy to within five arcseconds. ===== IC 1765 = NGC 783 and IC 1766 = NGC 785. Barnard's positions -- particularly the RA's -- are poor enough that he was misled into thinking them new nebulae. He must have sent them in a letter to Dreyer as there is no reference to Barnard's published papers in the IC entries, nor can I find them in my copies of Barnard's papers that I've collected. Nevertheless, the identifications are quite certain. The position difference between the galaxies is 33.4 seconds in RA and 3 arcmin 20 arcsec in Dec. Barnard's positions are 33 seconds in RA and 4.1 arcmin in Dec in the correct orientation: IC 1766 is to the southeast of I1765. The differences for the NGC objects is 34 seconds and 3.3 arcmin (from Stephan's observations). Assuming that Barnard observed the galaxies on the same night and measured their positions in the same way, the agreement with the actual differences is compelling evidence that Barnard's "novae" are actually the NGC objects. Reinmuth was the first to suggest the identities. Carlson picked them up for her 1940 ApJ collection, and the CGCG has them both, too. Curiously, Wolfgang has only the I1765/N783 identity in his list. He puts the number IC 1766 on a very faint, low-surface-brightness galaxy that Barnard almost surely could not have seen, even if he found the galaxies with the 36-inch or 40-inch refractors. ===== IC 1766 = NGC 785. See IC 1765. ===== IC 1773 = NGC 804. Swift's position for N804 is far enough off that it misled Bigourdan into measuring a faint star as N804. On the same night, he saw the real NGC 804, but thought it a nova. So, it has ended up with an IC number as well. Bigourdan's positions fall within a few arcsec of the GSC positions, and his notes about neighboring stars further pin down his objects. The identification is firm. ===== IC 1778 = IC 199, which see. ===== IC 1782 = NGC 823. Swift's description, "vF; D* of = mag in nebulosity," is almost identical to JH's, "A vF double * involved in a vF nebula." Given that the positions are just over two arcmin apart, we can only wonder how the identity escaped both Swift and Dreyer. Swift, in addition, was especially taken with the object and added to his description, "Curious object. Note." I find his note revealing of the thinking of observers at the time. It reads in full, This appears like a nebulous double star, but I think it is simply a double star in a nebula. There is a vast difference between a nebulous star, and a star in a nebula. It is the note which strikes us as curious, knowing as we now do that the object is nothing more than a galaxy with a star superposed about 10 arcsec away from the nucleus. But this was obviously an interesting sight to a 19th century observer with only the vaguest ideas of the nature and distances of the nebulae. Curious indeed! ===== IC 1787 = IC 217. As with IC 1782, I'm left wondering how either Swift or Dreyer thought Swift's object to be a "nova". The position is 1.2 arcmin different from Javelle's, and the descriptions (Swift: "eeF, eeE, a ray ..." Javelle: "F, pL, E ns.") are similar enough that a flare should have gone off in one or the other's mind. I suspect that Swift's "eeF" versus Javelle's "F" mislead one or both of them to ignore the near-coincidence of position. Or maybe they just missed this one. Whatever happened, the galaxy has two IC numbers. ===== IC 1795. Barnard's RA is marked +-, but still falls well within a large HII region. The position I've measured is for the brightest knot within Barnard's "Patch of nebulosity." This is not, by the way, the same knot as WH's object that became NGC 896 (which see). That is an even brighter knot to the southwest, pretty well pinned down by at least two positions in WH's papers, the one published in PT, and a second found in CH's "fair copy" of WH's sweeps in the Herschel Archive. Having said that, I should note that Wolfgang has suggested the two numbers refer to the same object. I am skeptical of that, at least until we can examine Barnard's observation in detail. It is one that he apparently sent directly to Dreyer -- I've found no record of it in any of Barnard's published papers on nebulae. ===== IC 1799 = NGC 920, which see. ===== IC 1800 is just two stars. Bigourdan described it as an "Object of nebulous aspect, or rather granulated, extending perhaps to 25 arcseconds; it is a little brighter toward the center, [but] without a notably resolved point. It is probably a cluster." He has three measurements of it on 22 Dec 1897, but rather scattered; the declination offsets differ by up to 20 arcseconds. His reduced position lands a few arcseconds north of the northern star. ===== IC 1801. Nominally discovered by Javelle in December 1897, this may have also been seen by Swift a dozen years earlier when he discovered NGC 935 (which see for the story). There is no doubt about the identity of Javelle's object -- his micrometric measurement points exactly at the southeastern of a close pair of galaxies. NGC 935 is almost always taken as the northwestern of the pair, and Javelle mentions in a footnote that he also measured it. By the way, I have not found in the first thirteen volumes of the Nice Annales a paper with Javelle's measures of the NGC objects. These would be nice to have, but -- if they still exist -- they may be tucked away in the archives at Nice. ===== IC 1802, 1803, and 1804 are three nebulae found by Barnard and, as with many others, not published but sent directly to Dreyer. So, the IC positions and descriptions are all that we have to work with to identify these objects. In the case of IC 1802, there is nothing at the nominal position, but 33 seconds of time following and 2.2 arcmin south is a galaxy that has a "* 11 np 1'". We can be fairly confident that this is Barnard's object as none of the other galaxies in the area has a similarly bright star to the northwest. If we apply this same offset to the positions for IC 1803 and IC 1804, we find a pair of galaxies oriented northwest-southeast, not southwest-northeast as Barnard's positions have them. IC 1803 is also sketchily described ("Stell N"), and IC 1804 carries no description at all. But they are the second brightest and brightest, respectively, in a small group of galaxies. So, I am reasonably sure that Barnard saw these two objects. However, which one has which IC number, I am not so sure. I've put the numbers on in RA order, assuming that the declinations are reversed. But it could be the other way, so I've put colons on the numbers. ===== IC 1803. See IC 1802. ===== IC 1804. See IC 1802. ===== IC 1805. Barnard's RA is off by about 50 seconds of time (this seemed to happen a lot with his observations; see e.g. IC 1802). Still, the cluster, immersed in a huge nebula, is too obvious to be missed. Barnard called it "compressed", so I've taken it to be the small cluster centered to the east of HD 15558. Brian Skiff puts the HD star closer to the center, and so takes the cluster to include many more of the surrounding stars. In this case, the group that I include is just the core of the cluster. I suspect Brian is right. Also see IC 1831 for another possible object in the area. ----- Courtney Seligman asked about this in June 2021, noting that the nebula to the east of the cluster is often called the "Heart Nebula". I did a little more digging and wrote back: "I have not found a paper of Barnard's that discusses this cluster and nebula, so assume that it was one of the "many MS communications" sent to Dreyer without otherwise being published. So, what we see in the 2nd IC is all there is, unless we can turn up a paper by Barnard that we haven't seen yet. The cluster is shown in Plates 8 and 9 in Lick Publication XI, Barnard's 1913 compilation of his photographs of the Milky Way and comets made at Lick from 1892 to 1895. However, there is no nebulosity apparent on either plate, so I am doubtful that these are his discovery images for IC 1805. Could be wrong, of course, and Barnard does mention the cluster in passing in his short discussion of Plate 9: 'There is a clustering tendency among the stars at various points on the plate, especially about three degrees above 33 and 34 [H VI 33/34 = NGC 869 and NGC 884, the Double Cluster, which see], where a feeble imitation of the double cluster appears.' The eastern of the two 'feeble' clumps is IC 1805, the western is IC 1824 = NGC 1027. In any event, the nebula is indeed part of the IC object, though the cluster is the main show in the old catalogue." Doing more digging, I found that Barnard himself identified both clusters and made the connection between NGC 1027 and IC 1824 in his Milky Way Atlas (Region/Plate 2; see it online at http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/) where he also discusses the field around the clusters, mentioning the faint nebulosity. He does not, however, give a reference to his discovery of the IC objects, so we are still left to assume that Barnard sent a note to Dreyer about them. ===== IC 1808 = NGC 963, which see. ===== IC 1814 = NGC 964. JH found the galaxy during his years at the Cape of Good Hope, and measured its position pretty well. Swift picked it up 60 years later from Echo Mountain in Southern California -- his RA is 43 seconds too small, so he thought he had a "nova". His brief description "pB, pS, mE" (identical to JH's) makes it clear, though, that he has just rediscovered JH's nebula. ===== IC 1817. There is a double galaxy here. Javelle's position suggests that he saw only the eastern, brighter object; while his description ("Faint, extended with the diurnal movement, around 1 arcminute [in diameter], looks like a whiteish patch of uniform brightness") suggests that he might have glimpsed the fainter western object merged with the brighter. That's how I interpreted his observation decades ago when I first looked at the pair, and I see little reason -- in spite of his position -- to change my mind now. Note that Javelle's NPD offset carries the wrong sign; it should be "-", not "+". In spite of this, his reduced position is correct, so the printed sign is probably just a typo or a transcription error. ===== IC 1821, like IC 1817 (which see), is a double system. Unlike the other pair, Javelle probably saw only the brighter, western object. His position (from two measurements on different nights) is very close to the center of this brighter galaxy, and his description -- "Pretty faint, ill-defined, 30 to 35 arcseconds [in diameter], gradually condensed" -- is very much for a single object. In addition, the eastern galaxy is very faint indeed, probably beyond the reach of even Javelle's 30-inch refractor. So, in this case, I've assigned the IC number to the western galaxy, and have designated the eastern object as a "companion." ===== IC 1822 is a star. Bigourdan saw this only one night in December of 1894, and called it "Pretty much a stellar object, maybe a little nebulous." He did not measure it, but only estimated its position with respect to BD -09 486. Unfortunately, his big table has a misprint for the sign of the RA offset -- it should be "-" and not "+". The positions in his CR list and in the second IC are correct, so the sign problem is either a typo, or he caught his error before he published the position. ===== IC 1824 is also NGC 1027, a cluster in the Milky Way. The IC object is one of many objects that Barnard apparently sent notes about directly to Dreyer, so we have only the IC entry to lead us. There, Barnard's description reads "Cl, sts F, perh[aps] F neby p extends to it." There is indeed faint nebulosity west of the cluster (extending to IC 1805 about 1.2 degrees west). With nothing at Barnard's nominal position except scattered field stars, NGC 1027 is the only logical choice. Its stars, however, are not "faint," especially taking the superposed SAO 12402 (HD 16626) into account. Barnard has the identity with Herschel's cluster noted in his Milky Way Atlas (see it online at http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/). Brian Skiff, by the way, has chosen the position of the superposed HD star as that for the cluster, but I have adopted Tom DeMary's. That is 10 seconds of time on east from the HD star, but better represents the center of this scattered object. ----- I should note that while Barnard lists the identity of the cluster in his Milky Way Atlas, he only mentions the cluster peripherally, with no cross-ID, in his 1913 collection of Milky Way and comet photos (Lick Publication XI). He had apparently not yet gone through IC2, though the RAS had distributed it by 1910. See IC 1805 where I have Barnard's comment from Lick XI in full. By the way, Barnard does not mention NGC 1027 in Lick XI, only in his later Milky Way Atlas. ===== IC 1826 = IC 1830. Swift's RA is 40 seconds too small, but his declination and description are good. Stewart's position is good, but he found the object on only one plate so marked it "susp"[ected only]. He also notes the star 1.5 arcmin to the southwest as "eF"; Swift's estimate of 8 is much closer to the truth. In any event, the identity is sure because of Swift's note about the star. ===== IC 1828 = NGC 1036. This is simply a reobservation of NGC 1036. The NGC position for N1036 is 10 seconds of time and about 2 arcmin off. However, since there are no other galaxies in the neighborhood, it is a bit baffling that Javelle thought his "nova" a different object. He must have simply missed the NGC entry. Also note that this is not = IC 1829 (which see). ===== IC 1829. This is often assumed to be equal to IC 1828 = NGC 1036 (which see). This error is caused by a typo in Javelle's declination in the Nice Observations, Vol. XI, page D11 for J940 = IC 1829. The typo (a "76" in place of a "71" for the north polar distance of J940) has put the IC position 5 degrees north of the true position. Re-reducing Javelle's data shows that IC 1829 is CGCG 439-026. This is another of the errors that Malcolm Thomson tracked down years ago. ===== IC 1830 = IC 1826, which see. ===== IC 1831 may be a plume extending northeast from IC 1805. If so, its nominal declination, from a Heidelberg plate by Max Wolf, is at least one degree too far north. A one-degree field of the DSS2R plate, centered at 02 44.2, +62 09 shows a broad streak of nebulosity stretching southwest to northeast (note the different direction seen by Wolf, below). I think it is more likely that the object is a defect on the plate. This could, of course, be checked if the plate still exists. Here is Wolf's complete note from AN 4082, kindly translated by Wolfgang Steinicke: A third [the first two are IC 2088 and IC 2177, both of which see] extended and pretty structured nebula was found at the border of Cassiopeia and Perseus. It measures many square degrees, too, irregularly covering a NW-SE oriented field, connecting some star groups while being crossed by many canals [dark streaks]. The center is approximately at RA = 2h 33m, Dec = +63d. This nebula is complicated, but unfortunately pretty faint, too. But I hope to reproduce a picture which was taken in December with the Bruce Telescope. We should also search Wolf's papers from 1906 on to see if he actually did publish the photograph. Another possibility is that the "nebula" is nothing more than the unresolved Milky Way, or even simple vignetting on Wolf's early plates. ===== IC 1835. Simply looking at this quadruple system (three galaxies and a superposed star) should tell us which object Javelle measured -- the bright northern galaxy. For some reason, I took all four of the objects as Javelle's object when I went over the field many years ago. My apologies! I think I have it right now, with the northern object alone carrying the IC number, with the other three listed as a superposed star (what I had called the "mw comp") and two companion galaxies, southeast and southwest. Thanks to Courtney Seligman for pointing out the star intruding on the apparently triple galaxy system. ===== IC 1837 = NGC 1072. Javelle's sign on his north polar distance offset is wrong -- it should be "-", not "+". Once this change is made, his reduced position falls within a few arcsec of the nucleus of NGC 1072. ===== IC 1840 = NGC 1105 = MCG -03-08-004. See NGC 1105 for the story. ===== IC 1845 is a double star. Swift notes another "double star north preceding," and that object is indeed there if Swift's RA is just 1 minute of time too large. This was first suggested as the identity for the IC object by Andris Lauberts in the ESO-B Atlas. Lauberts also suggested, though with a question mark, that ESO 416-G015 40 seconds following Swift's nominal position might be his object. However, the only double star north preceding that object is considerably fainter than other stars nearer the galaxy. The double is also 11 arcmin away from the galaxy; it would have been near the edge of Swift's field where it would not have as much chance of attracting his attention. Even though Wolfgang adopted this identification, it is just not as attractive an option as the double star that Andris noted. ===== IC 1846; is it also NGC 1109? Javelle went over this field about 40 years after Marth's first reconnaissance of it. He measured only four of the nebulae here, but his positions are good enough to unmistakably identify all four. Would that Marth's positions were as good! See NGC 1109 for a discussion. ===== IC 1848. The discovery of this cluster embedded in nebulosity was, like many of Barnard's "new" nebulae and clusters, sent directly to Dreyer (at least I can find no mention of it in Barnard's papers published before 1908). The IC description is unusual: "Cl, sts F, extends 8 [minutes] f, in F neby". The word that I have as "[minutes]" is printed in the IC as a superscript, lower-case "m" -- this implies that the extent of the cluster is about a degree. This is, in fact, the case. This "cluster" comes from Plate 2 of Barnard's "Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way". It is the obvious collection of stars in the middle of the plate, comprised of three clumps at roughly these positions (J2000), with roughly these sizes: Western clump: 02 51 32, +60 24.2; 30' x 23' Middle clump: 02 54 48, +60 38.1; 20' x 13' Eastern clump: 02 58 39, +60 33.0; 26' x 19' These were estimated from DSSB2 images a degree across approximately centered on each clump, with reference to Barnard's Plate 2. The appearance is quite different on the red DSS2 plate: the fields become more dominated by nebulosity. The nebulosity disappears and the "clusters" become apparently larger and more scattered on the DSS2 IR plate, where they are defined by the surrounding obscuration rather than by any clumping of stars. The only exception is an apparently real cluster right around the two stars HD 17505 and HD 17520 -- this is the cluster noted by Brian Skiff. For the entire complex, I've taken a position (02 55, +60.0) and size (1.4 deg by 0.6 deg) from the DSS2B with reference to Barnard's Plate 2. Specifically, I've estimated the position on Barnard's plate, then found that position using a one-degree image displayed by SkyView. The size comes directly from Barnard's plate using his overlay grid. Both estimates are obviously crude, but are more than good enough to locate and characterize the object as Barnard described it to Dreyer. I should also note that these "clusters" are more appropriately called "star clouds", so that is how they are labeled in the big position table. One final curiosity: In his Atlas, Barnard makes reference to IC 1805 and IC 1824 (both of which see) in this field, but does not mention IC 1848. You can find his Atlas online at http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/ (it was there in April of 2014 ... and in March of 2018). ===== IC 1850 may also be NGC 1111. See IC 1846 and NGC 1109 for the story. ===== IC 1851. Another of Barnard's "private communications" to Dreyer, there is no nebulosity associated with the star (BD +57 651 = HD 17581 = SAO 23662) that is visible on any of the modern sky survey images. Barnard mentions the nebulosity in his Milky Way Atlas (Plate 2, text); there is just a vague trace of his nebulosity visible on the scan of the plate itself. Since it appears on no other plate or image, it is almost certainly a defect on Barnard's plate. The position from Barnard that I adopted is from the Milky Way Atlas text. ===== IC 1852 may also be NGC 1112. See IC 1846, and especially NGC 1109 for a discussion. ===== IC 1855. There is nothing in Javelle's nominal position, claimed to be -52.53 seconds of time, and +4' 54.2" from BD +12 393. The object I chose decades ago is a galaxy with a much brighter star to the south, and does not match Javelle's description: "Faint, double, the two components are in the position angle 0 [degrees]; the nuclei are 15th magnitude. It is one arcminute in extent; the measurement refers to a point between the two objects." This is a fair description of NGC 1117 (which see, with its own problems). But there are no stars at the offsets given by Javelle. There is, however, a curious coincidence with the declination: IF Javelle misidentified his comparison star (BD +12 394 rather than BD +12 393), and IF his north polar distance offset has the wrong sign, it matches the declination of NGC 1117. However, the RA offset does not match, even with switched signs (+60.9 seconds of time from the star). Javelle has a footnote attached to his observation: "Also measured were NGC 1115 and NGC 1116". This lends some additional credence to the idea that the correct object is NGC 1117. But if so, the offsets refer to some star -- and perhaps even some other object -- that is not clearly identifiable. In any case, the previous object I chose is simply an arbitrary one plucked off the sky for lack of anything better. We can just ignore it for now as it is clearly not Javelle's double nebula. ===== IC 1862. I always get concerned when I see that an IC object was found by Lewis Swift. He was an old man by the time he got the Warner Observatory moved to Echo Mountain, and his positions from Lowe Observatory (as it was renamed) are considerably worse than those from Warner. So, when I saw that the RA of this object is out by 41 seconds, and the Dec by 1.7 arcmin, I wondered if I had chosen the right galaxy to carry the IC number in SGC. It didn't help that Andris and Wolfgang had agreed with me -- I may have copied Andris's ESO catalogue and Wolfgang may have copied mine. I checked again. I found that I (or Andris) was probably right. Though there is another candidate galaxy (MCG -05-07-030 = ESO 356-GA011) just a degree north (1 deg 1.1 arcmin, to be fussy about it), the RA is 2min 34sec out, and the star south-following is magnitude 4.5 rather than 7 as Swift made it. These discrepancies seem to rule out the alternate pretty conclusively. So, I've kept the identification as is. (The star near I1862 = ESO 356- G015 has a magnitude of 8.1 in SAO, by the way, much closer to Swift's estimate). ===== IC 1864. Just two numbers on, it happened again! a large RA error by Swift casts doubt on an SGC identification (see IC 1862). So, once again, I went back to the SERC films. This time, there is no alternate candidate galaxy, so even though Swift's RA is off by 29 seconds of time and there is no confirming star mentioned nearby, I'm more or less comfortable with this identification. And Swift's brief description ("eF, S, R") matches, too. Interestingly, the two objects, close on the sky, are also adjacent in Swift's published lists -- but were not discovered on the same night. IC 1862 is from 25 November 1897, while I1864 is from 19 October of that same year. ===== IC 1867. See IC 1868. ===== IC 1868. Javelle misidentified his comparison star, so the IC position is wrong. When the correct star, BD +08 451, is used, his re-reduced position falls within two arcsec of the modern positions. The star he claimed to have used was BD +08 452. That is the star he used for IC 1867, for which his position is also within two arcsec of the modern positions. ===== IC 1869 is a galaxy plus the superposed star. Even though the galaxy has a nearby companion, that companion would have been too faint for Javelle to see. Instead, he took the neighboring star and the galaxy's nucleus as a double star immersed in nebulosity. There is yet another, brighter star on to the southeast which he did not mention. ----- Courtney Seligman has pointed out that the "nearby companion" is just another star, this one superposed on the outer northwest reaches of the galaxy. I mistook it earlier for a companion galaxy because of the whisps of the galaxy on which it is superposed. ===== IC 1871. Barnard got the wrong magnitude 9.3 BD star when he sent this to Dreyer. Instead of BD +60d 596 which is surrounded by nebulosity, "chiefly following", he listed the position of BD +60d 624. This latter star is completely clear of nebulosity, and is 9 minutes of time east of the nebulosity. But the good match of description and magnitude for the object make the identity fairly certain. The position I assign is for the approximate center of the nebulosity rather than the star. In his 1923 Milky Way Atlas, he not only has the star correctly identified, but notes another nebulous star about 5 arcmin to the north. I have listed a position for that star and nebula, too. This whole region is a part of the IC 1848 complex (which see). ===== IC 1872 is a group of 4-5 stars -- not a cluster -- exactly at Bidschof's micrometric position. It was also independently found by Bigourdan, but his observation was published too late to be included in the second IC. Note, too, that IC 1872 is not NGC 1174 -- even though no one to my knowledge has equated them. See N1174 for the story. ===== IC 1877. While doing his survey of IC objects, Malcolm noticed that this galaxy was included in IC while its brighter neighbor, ESO 199-IG012, was not. Was there a reason for this? Found by Stewart on a 24-inch Bruce plate, IC 1877 is positively identified by its position and description, especially the position angle 170 deg (the modern value from ESO and ESO-LV is 153 deg). The brighter companion has a position angle of 19 deg, clearly different, and is about two arcmin on to the northeast. There is little possibility that Stewart mistook this for object for I1877. It is important to note that Stewart had only one plate of this area, so could not confirm the three objects he found on it. All are marked "suspected" as a result. Curious about this, Malcolm asked the folks at CfA if they could examine the original plate. They were good enough to make Polaroid copies of the area around IC 1877 and ESO 199-IG012. Both galaxies are well-shown on these copies of the plate, with IC 1877 in Stewart's position angle. However, the brighter object has a peculiar flattened triangular appearance with some apparent halo-like plumes projecting from its north and south ends. It looks similar to a plate defect about 30 arcmin to the east-northeast, so I think that Stewart assumed it to be a flaw. So, while many IC objects discovered on photographs are indeed plate flaws, here is a case of a real galaxy apparently mistaken for a defect, and so NOT included in the IC! ===== IC 1878. ESO applies this number to both IC 1878 and its companion 20 arcsec northeast. However, Stewart's original description, including the position angle (5 degrees), makes it clear that only the brighter galaxy was seen on the Harvard plate. ===== IC 1881 = NGC 1213, which see. ===== IC 1883 = NGC 1212, which see. ===== IC 1884 = IC 290, which see. Barnard's positions for this galaxy, and four others that he found in the same group, are very good. Swift's, on the other hand, are only pretty good, and suffer from a systematic offset on one of the nights on which he found them. See IC 290 and IC 292-6 for more on this field. ===== IC 1887 = IC 292, which see. Also see IC 1884. ===== IC 1888 = IC 293, which see. Also see IC 1884. ===== IC 1889 = IC 294 = IC 296, which see. Also see IC 1884. ===== IC 1903. Stewart described this as "2 F neb., E". The two are about an arcminute apart, the brighter to the southeast. There is a faint star near the northwestern galaxy that may have been blended with the galaxy on Stewart's plate. I've given positions for both objects, and a mean position for them as well. ===== IC 1905 is probably the triple star that Wolfgang and I have measured -- but may include a fourth star less than an arcminute to the southeast. Bigourdan's position is only an estimate (-23 seconds, +5 minutes 30 seconds) made on a single night. That position falls a few seconds west of the triple, on the "wrong" side of the asterism if Bigourdan meant to include the outlying star. His full description (translated by me) reads, "Small, very faint cluster, around which there could be traces of nebulosity. Impossible to decide with certainty." I suspect that Bigourdan included the fourth star as he usually mentions nearby stars in his descriptions. The fact that it receives no specific mention here suggests that it is part of his "cluster." But given that his position is northwest of the center of the asterism, I find it "Impossible to decide with certainty." In the end, I take the path of least resistance and adopt the triple as IC 1905, but note all four stars as a distinct possibility. ===== IC 1907 = NGC 1278 = GC 675 = Big 375 = d'Arrest 56. Bigourdan has this in his fourth list of new nebulae (= Big 375), but in his final publication, he includes the measurements for it under the number NGC 1278. He has this note for the object: "This nebula has been listed under the number GC 674 by Lord Rosse, and in the NGC. It is this that led me to at first suppose that it was a new nebula." Thus, it is clear that Bigourdan was misled by the typo (or misidentification?) in Lord Rosse's observations and in the NGC. Just as clearly, he found the problem during preparation for publication of his data. The positions for NGC 1278 and IC 1907 are close enough to confirm the identity. ===== IC 1908 is a double interacting system. Stewart's plate showed at least some of the features as he described it as "vF, vS, 1 sp. branch seen". The northwestern galaxy actually has two spiral arms. While the eastern arm is a bit brighter, I think it's also possible that Stewart was refering to the considerably brighter bar of the southeastern galaxy. We will, of course, need to examine the original plate to answer this question. ===== IC 1910 is described by Stewart as "2 eF, eS neb. spots, susp." Neither appears on the southern sky survey plates, so these are probably defects. ===== IC 1911 either does not exist, or is a star with a faint companion about 30 arcsec to the northwest. Bigourdan has one estimated position for the object in his Appendix of Supplemental Observations; he described it there as a "Trace of nebulosity, suspected only" from a single night in 1887. In the Comptes Rendu list where he announced his discovery, he adds "Sky mediocre." There is nothing in his position, a fact noted by Bigourdan himself during a second observation in 1902. He did note two stars near his position and gave estimated offsets for them -- they are indeed there. Is it possible that he mistook the fainter of them with its companion as nebulous on his relatively poor night in 1887? I've put it into the position table with a question mark. The brighter star is at 03 17 41.61, +35 08 43.0 (B1950) measured using Skyview and a DSS cutout. ===== IC 1914. Surprisingly, Stewart's position for this wonderful galaxy is about three arcmin to the west of the nucleus. Given that he describes it only as "Sp[iral]?" I wonder if a position error fully explains this object. We'd have to check the original plate to be sure. See IC 1923 for more about this particular plate. ===== IC 1917. Another surprise: ESO says "Not found" and assigns the IC object a place holder number "ESO 155- ?023". This is a surprise because just 30 arcseconds north of Stewart's position is a cD galaxy in a poor cluster. While the cD itself is round -- Stewart's scanty description reads only "E n to s" -- the galaxy is surrounded by several fainter objects with a general north-south orientation. The identity is thus not in question. What might be a bit questionable is my inclusion of four of the nearby companions in the IC number. I suspect that they are blended with the cD on the Bruce plate that Stewart examined, but we need to see the plate to be sure. ----- Looking at this again, I am suggesting that the object I've labeled "I1917s" could well be a star. It is the only one of the five objects here that does not have an entry in the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog, and it appears stellar on the DSS2 images. Even if it is a star, however, it seems to be a part of the image that Stewart examined on the Bruce plate. We really do need to get a look at that plate. ===== IC 1920. Stewart's nominal position falls between two galaxies, but is a bit closer to the brighter, eastern of the candidates (it is 10 seconds of time off). The declination matches, too, though that is a loose constraint as Stewart gives declinations only to a full minute of arc. His description, "Stell[ar]" is not much help, either. Both galaxies are small and have compact, "stellar" nuclei. So, I've taken the eastern galaxy as IC 1920. Wolfgang, however, chose the slightly fainter western object. Since that is a possibility, I've left it in the table, though with question marks. Given the ambiguity, we need to look at the original plate. Stewart's positions on this plate, by the way, are good. See IC 1923 for more. ===== IC 1921 may be the faint star that I've listed in the position table. However, the star is fainter than I'd expect Stewart to be able to pick up on the Bruce plates, so I suspect that the object that he found is actually a plate defect. His description is simply "Stell[ar]", so doesn't help us much. Only an examination of the original plate will tell us for sure. See IC 1923 for more on this particular plate. ----- Courtney Seligman has just (July 2021) written that this object has been linked with the star CD -47 1297 on several internet sites. This just can't be correct as the star is at 04 11 43.02, -47 16 16.1 (J2000), while Stewart's position -- correctly copied into IC2 -- is 03 24 42, -50 41.9 (also J2000). The separation is 8.4 degrees, not exactly good -- or even "good enough" -- agreement. While we don't yet know the source of this error, Courtney is pretty confident in his assertion that IC 1921 can't be CD -47 1297. I agree! ===== IC 1923 is most likely the faint double galaxy (or possibly a galaxy and a star) that I've listed in the position table. Unfortunately, Stewart describes it only as "Stell[ar]" -- brief, unhelpful descriptions plague his notes on this plate -- so we won't know for sure that this is his object until we can examine the original plate. However, his positions on this plate -- one of the first he searched for nebulae (this probably accounts for the scanty descriptions) -- are good. There is no significant systematic offset and the standard deviations are 0.67 arcmin in RA and 0.61 arcmin in Dec. Since Stewart's position for the double object I chose is well within the canonical 2-sigma of the true position, I'll take the pair as the object that he saw. ===== IC 1925 is probably a plate defect. It is listed as the first of a pair of nebulae, but there is only one object (IC 1929) on the modern plates. There is a faint possibility that it is identical to I1929 -- the descriptions are nearly the same, "E np to sf, stell" for IC 1925 and "E np to sf" for IC 1929 -- so that is given as an option in the table. Since it was found on the same plate as I1929, however, I think it is unlikely that the two objects are identical. ----- Courtney Seligman wrote about these two in July 2021, noting that Wolfgang Steinicke has them as identical. This goaded me into looking at the two again. Here, from my note to Courtney, is what I found: Looking at this again, I think that Wolfgang is correct, but perhaps not for the reason you suggested [the same object was measured twice on the same plate]. Though both objects are said to be on plate 3339 (centered at 03 31, -52.5 for 1900), plate 3346 (03 24, -51.0) largely overlaps the earlier plate. The text in Harvard Annals, Vol 60, says, "Dots in this [final] column [of Table III] indicate that the region is covered by another plate. Since the plates overlap, and the objects are only given once, the number given in the last column is that of the objects whose positions were determined from the plate in question, and not the complete number which may appear on the plate." This suggests that all the positions in this area were determined on plate 3339 and, given that no additional nebulae, were found on plate 3346 -- with dots in the final column -- this conjecture is reinforced. However, the positions for IC 1925 = HN 188 (03 22.3, -51 37 for 1900) and IC 1929 = HN 191 (03 22.5, -51 37) are within 1-sigma of being identical. The descriptions are also telling, of course: IC 1925: "E np to sf, stell.", IC 1929: "E np to sf." So, given all this, I think that the galaxy was measured on both plates, and that because of a bookkeeping error -- perhaps based on the slightly different positions -- the object ended up in the final list with two entries. I'm not sure about this, of course, but it makes a plausible story, perhaps a bit more likely than your idea that Stewart measured the object twice on the same plate. But who knows? All this is conjecture. Given that I now think the equality of the two objects is likely, I've changed the double queries in the main table to single colons. Wolfgang and Courtney are probably right. ===== IC 1927 may be the faint double star about an arcminute following the nominal position. But the double is quite faint, and I wonder if it would have shown up on the Bruce plate that Stewart examined. We'll have to look at the plate to be sure. See IC 1923 for more about Stewart's work with this plate. ===== IC 1929 may also be IC 1925, which see. But probably not. ===== IC 1936 may be a double interacting galaxy, or it may have a star superposed on the northwestern arm, OR there may be a bright knot there. However it turns out, I've given positions for the two objects, and adopted a mean position for them. ===== IC 1939 is probably a defect on the Bruce plate. There is nothing in the area but faint stars. However, about 4 arcmin preceding Stewart's nominal position is a double star that is "E p to f" (the extent of Stewart's description, unfortunately). While the actual extension is "sp to nf", it is close enough to Stewart's description that I've put this into the position table as a possibility. However, since Stewart's positions are otherwise pretty good on this plate (see IC 1923 for more), this is only a possibility. Gaia DR2 has a third fainter star very close to the southwestern star, but it is not resolved in the DSS images. This fainter star is missing Gaia DR3, so I suspect it is a duplicate entry for the southwestern star itself; I've removed it from the list. ===== IC 1941 is probably the line of three or four stars three arcmin south of Stewart's nominal position. The description, "vF, S, vmE at 0 deg, prob. neb. susp.", fits. Since there is nothing else nearby that matches as well, I've taken the line of stars as his object, though with colons to indicate the uncertain position. ===== IC 1942, described by Stewart as "Stell., E n to s" is actually a double galaxy. I've put both into the position table. ===== IC 1943 may be NGC 1411. Swift's position is about 9 minutes of time too small, but his declination and description fit the NGC galaxy pretty well. I personally suspect that he made a 10 minute digit error in reading his setting circle; combined that with his usual approximate RA, we could well end up with his position. By the time he was observing at Echo Mountain, his ability to measure positions had become quite bad. This is an obvious example. ===== IC 1963 = IC 335. Swift's second position for this, taken 10 years later than the first, is only 8 seconds of time following his first, though both are about 30 seconds west of the galaxy. There is no doubt that he saw the same galaxy twice -- his descriptions match the appearance of this bright spindle exactly. ===== IC 1971 is simply described by Stewart as "E p to f". It is actually "E n to s". Since his position is good, I suspect that this is just a slip of the pen. ===== IC 1979 is a faint, pretty wide double star about two arcmin northwest of IC 1980. It matches Stewart's description quite well, and the position is close, too. Since it was found on the same plate as IC 1980, it is certainly not identical to the galaxy, in spite of the similar descriptions. ===== IC 1980 is not IC 1979. That number, which see, applies to a faint double star about two arcmin northwest of the galaxy. ===== IC 1981 = NGC 1412, which see. ===== IC 1983 is probably identical with NGC 1415. The NGC object is the brightest galaxy in the area, so is the one most likely to have been seen by Swift. He has his usual poor position (10 seconds and 3 arcmin off the correct position) as well as a sketchy description, "vF, pS, R; not [NGC] 1426" in his big 11th list in AN. The name of the galaxy that Swift was pretty sure this was not is not in the IC description. Just as well; it is a distraction at best, an embarrassment at worst as it is over half a degree away from NGC 1415. But it does lead us to a question: Could Swift have meant N1416 rather than N1426? N1416 actually is "vF, pS, R", while N1415 is much brighter (but see the discussion below!). However, N1416 has two bright stars just south pointing at it -- had Swift seen these, he surely would mentioned them, just as he did dozens of other asterisms near his nebulae. I think this is unlikely as N1416 was found by Muller in the mid-1880s with a 26-inch refractor, and has no GC number (see NGC 1416 for more on its chequered past). In Swift's original paper, the first list of nebulae found at Lowe Observatory, IC 1983 appears as the 20th entry. There, Swift's description reads "vF, pS, R. Not G.C. 765". GC 765 is indeed NGC 1426, so Swift has got the right NGC number for the AN paper. Unfortunately, this means that he overlooked NGC 1415 and 1416 altogether when he was putting his list together. Somehow, Dreyer missed the possible NGC identifications, too. Whatever happened, I think that NGC 1415 is the best candidate for Swift's galaxy. ----- Corresponding with Gary Kronk in April 2017, I found that he is more inclined to the NGC 1416 identification because of Swift's description of IC 1983 as "vF, pS, R". I am sticking with my argument above, and would also cite the position differences, too. Swift puts IC 1983 at roughly the RA of NGC 1416 and the Dec of NGC 1415 -- but it ends up considerably closer to NGC 1415. I also note the southerly declination; many of Swift's southerly objects seen from Mt. Lowe have descriptions that make them seem too faint for their apparent magnitudes. Examples include IC 5237 = NGC 7361, IC 5269, IC 5273, and IC 5328. He calls all of these "vF" or "eeeF", yet all are Shapley-Ames galaxies and have total visual magnitudes between 11.4 and 12.4. With a total magnitude of 11.6, NGC 1415 is probably another such case. For the record, NGC 1416 is at V_T = 12.9 and has a considerably lower surface brightness as well. ----- Gary accepted NGC 1415 for his book on Swift. He does mention the problem with Swift's description of IC 1983 as "R[ound]", but given that Steve Gottlieb, Wolfgang Steinicke, and I all chose NGC 1415, Gary finally went with that galaxy. ===== IC 1985 = IC 348. Barnard did not check the first IC before he published this as a new nebula at the end of his paper on the "Exterior Nebulosities of the Pleiades." Dreyer apparently did not, either, so the object now has two IC numbers. See IC 348 for more. The nebulosity that caught Barnard's eye on a photograph of the Pleiades also contains a cluster, though the cluster is not visible on either of Barnard's photographs in his Lick Publications, Vol. 11. (Safford actually did see the cluster, though Dreyer did not put that into the description for IC 348.) Barnard adopted the BD position for the central star in the nebula, and I've done the same. ===== IC 1986. For this patchy dwarf irregular galaxy, I've taken the position of the brightest central knot to represent the galaxy. I doubt that this is the nucleus, though it occupies a position in the bar that is close to where a nucleus might be found in an earlier type galaxy. ===== IC 1987 appears to be a cD galaxy in a poor cluster similar to those in the short lists published by Morgan, Kayser, and White (ApJ 199, 545, 1975) and Albert, White, and Morgan (ApJ 211, 309, 1977). The cD itself has three pretty bright (and two or three much fainter) companions superposed. I've given positions for all of these in the table, but that for "IC 1987" is for the cD. The companions have directional designations. ----- Courtney Seligman has written that he believes the northeastern component is a superposed star. It has a marginally-detected (1.5-sigma) proper motion, but I can find no image of it that will confirm stellarity. We need a spectrum to be sure. ===== IC 1988 may be NGC 1425 with a 50 second error in RA and a 10 degree digit error in Dec. Swift has made both of these errors in other cases, and his description could be made to fit NGC 1425, too (instead of "eF, pL, R; 2 sts near f, wide D* np" it would read "eF, pL, R; wide D* near f, 2 sts np"). He is certainly confused about the date he found this. He gives it as 14 Oct 1897 in the AN summary list, but as 3 Oct 1897 in his shorter List 5 where the nebula is number 14. While I'm fairly confident about the identification with the NGC galaxy, there are enough changes that have to be made to Swift's observations that I've put a question mark on the IC number. ===== IC 1990 is part of the reflection nebulosity around the Pleiades. It was first noted by Stratonoff (AN 3366 = AN 141, 103, 1896) who found it on a plate exposed for 25 hours over nine nights. He describes it as a "straight wire between RA 03 40.7 and Dec +24[deg] 04', and RA 03 41.9 with the same declination" (1896.0 positions precess to 03 46 53, +24 23.5 and 03 48 06, +24 23.3 for J2000.0). "Its width is about 20-30 [arcsec]." He adds that "The nebula is nearly parallel to the known nebula discovered by M. M. Henry, having the same form and found a little to the south." This is a pretty good description of the area just north of Alcyone, though we now know of many other filaments and patches of nebulosity here. Stratonoff's declination is a little too far north (by about three arcminutes), and coincidentally, Dreyer applied the precession in declination with the wrong sign, so the NPD in the IC is incorrect -- that number should be "66 03", not "65 49". The position I've adopted is more or less the center of Stratonoff's streak. ===== IC 1992 is probably a defect on the Bruce plate. There is nothing near Stewart's position but a faint star. While it's possible that this is the object that Stewart had in mind (the brief description "Stell[ar]" fits), I doubt it. His other positions on the plate are pretty good; see IC 1923, for more about this particular plate. ===== IC 1995 is one of the "exterior nebulosities of the Pleiades" found in the 1890s by Barnard on photographs generally taken at Lick Observatory. He has a long discussion of these, with drawings and a photograph, in MNRAS 60, 258, 1900. Most of these are either reflection nebulae associated with the Pleiades, or are dust clouds above the plane of the Galaxy reflecting its light back to us. Though Barnard puts the center of his nebula at 03 44, +25.4 (for 1900), he goes on to say that "This is at the 6m star Piazzi iii. 170, which is Rad. 434, and whose position for 1860 is 03 43 54.30, +25 09 15.3." For 1900, this is 03 44 18.0, +25 16 46, a little south of the central position. On the POSS plates, the nebula actually appears brightest south of the star (which is HD 23985 = SAO 76256), so I have chosen to take the position of the star as that for the nebula as well. Given the size of the nebula (at least a degree east-west and about half of that north-south), this is an acceptable position. ----- The actual position of the star is perhaps a bit uncertain. In this era of precision astrometry, I know this statement is verging on heretical. But the various catalogues have the star at slightly different positiions and with slightly different proper motions and parallaxes. I've put some into the main table. I noticed two things in particular. First, Gaia EDR3 has no parallax or proper motions listed, apparently because -- second -- this is a double star, WDS 03503+2535. The Washington catalogue credits the discovery to Otto Struve in 1846 (though I'd have to check Struve's catalogues to be sure of the date). Hipparcos has the following information for the pair: Comp RA (J2000) Dec pmRA e_pm pmDec e_pm Plx e_px V_T A 03 50 18.938 +25 34 45.66 +30.23 3.12 -130.88 1.68 16.96 0.82 5.73 B 03 50 18.939 +25 34 45.79 +49.10 7.31 -91.17 3.80 16.96 0.82 6.52 All of this is to say that my preferred J2000.0 position -- from Hipparcos -- has some extra "cooking" in it. Caveat emptor! ===== IC 1999. As with IC 1987 (which see), Courtney has suggested that the faint "companion" just north of the galaxy is a star. As with the IC 1987 companion, the parallax and proper motions of this object are not statistically significant. And there are no readily available high-resolution images of the object. The DSS shows only a very compact object superposed on the corona of the brighter galaxy. To my eye, however, both DSS2R and IR images look elongated in a north-south direction. For now, I'm leaving this as a galaxy. But doubt remains! ===== IC 2001 is probably the double star that Wolfgang picked up. Stewart includes a note "3 stars near" in his description; the three stars form a line just to the north and east of the double star. It is also possible that Stewart's object is a defect on the Harvard plate. We need to check this. ===== IC 2002 is probably = NGC 1474, which see. The IC identification is not in doubt, but the NGC ID is. ===== IC 2007 = IC 2008. Swift found this twice, the first time in October of 1896, the second time in December 1897. His two positions are well off the true positions and, of course, don't agree with each other, either. So, two IC numbers. However, his descriptions, especially his notes ("F * in contact nf" and "eeeF * v close nf") makes it clear that the two observations not only point at the same galaxy, but identify the galaxy itself. ===== IC 2008 = IC 2007, which see. ===== IC 2011 is a double star. I noted this during my work on SGC and Wolfgang independently picked up the same double. Stewart's brief description "eeF, vS, R" is appropriate. ===== IC 2013 must be a defect on the Bruce plate; there is nothing in its nominal position. The exposure time was only one hour, very short for the slow plates used a century ago. A galaxy matching the description given by Stewart ("cB, cL, vE at 170 deg, cbM, susp") would have had to be bright enough to have been picked up by the Herschels. Tellingly, the only other "nebula" seen by Stewart on this plate (IC 2030, which see) is also missing. I suspect that it too is a defect. ===== IC 2019 is the northeastern of an interacting pair of galaxies. The south- western is enough fainter that Javelle missed it -- his two positions are well off the companion. However, because he reported that his object was mottled, it may have been affected to some extent by the companion. I've included both of his positions in the table to give an idea of the internal accuracy of his observations. Both positions refer to the same star. ===== IC 2026 = NGC 1509, which see. ===== IC 2030 was found by Stewart on the same plate as IC 2013 (which see). And like IC 2013, it does not exist, so is probably also a defect. There is a very faint galaxy about two arcmin southeast of Stewart's position that has been taken as the IC object. However, Stewart's description ("cF, vS, eE at 135 degrees, susp.") makes this unlikely -- the galaxy is nearly round, so would appear star-like on the one-hour plate, if it appears at all. We clearly need to check this. ===== IC 2031 is a nearly stellar compact galaxy, perhaps one of the compact blue irregulars. Unfortunately, Barnard's position, sent directly to Dreyer, is only approximate. That, combined with the stellar appearance of the galaxy has served to hide it from us for decades. But Barnard's description, including the "* 11 nf 3 arcmin" is accurate, and his position is close enough to make the identification secure. ===== IC 2041 = IC 2048, which see. ===== IC 2042 is nothing but a star. Innes, in one observation of 5 Feb 1897, claims to have seen it enshrouded in a nebula 1 arcmin in diameter. There is no nebula on the sky survey plates, and the star has not been noted as being peculiar in any way. I've adopted the Tycho-2 position. ===== IC 2045. Is this NGC 1538? See that for the story. ===== IC 2047. Or is this NGC 1538? Again, see the NGC object's entry for the (short) story. ===== IC 2048 = IC 2041. Though Swift's position for IC 2048 is well off the galaxy, the identity is assured by his notes about the field in his Lowe Observatory List 1: "... B * f; 1532 p; 3 in field including D neb ..." (in the AN summary list, this last phrase becomes "... 3 in field with D neb ..."). The bright star is there; it is HD 26799. There is also some question about the date that Swift found the galaxy: the AN paper, and the PASP version of the first list, claims 10 Dec 1895; the AJ version has 5 Oct 1896. I believe that the AJ paper is wrong as it has three consecutive objects with this same date. There is no question about the identity of IC 2041, by the way. Swift's RA is surprisingly good. Though his declination is about 3-4 arcmin too far south, his about the "10m * close s" is accurate. ===== IC 2053 is within Stewart's usual error of his place. ESO's claim that it is not found rests on a 10 arcmin typo in the nominal position in the ESO list. Wolfgang found the object. There still may be some question about it, however. Stewart claims that it is "cE 140 deg". The galaxy is nearly round on the SERC plate, so I wonder if there is a plate defect somehow involved with the IC object. When the original plate can be dug out, we'll find out. ===== IC 2055. Even though Wolfgang puts this number on a double star an arcminute north of Stewart's nominal position, I'm more inclined to think that this is a defect on the Bruce plate. Stewart describes the object as "F, S, cE at 0 deg; susp." His other "F, S" objects are well over an arcminute in diameter and are unmistakeably galaxies while Wolfgang's double is hardly distinguished from many other nearby field stars: the separation is only a few arcseconds, and the fainter star is nearly at 20th magnitude. This can be cleared up by examining the Bruce plate, hopefully still in the plate library at Harvard. ===== IC 2058 is a long, skinny Sd galaxy seen almost exactly edge-on. In keeping with its class, it hardly has central bulge at all. There is, however, a knot (or superposed star? or perhaps the nucleus peeking through?) about 5 arcsec south of the approximate center. I've dug out positions for both -- though the position for the center is relatively rough -- as well as for a companion galaxy a couple of arcminutes on east. ===== IC 2061 is probably a defect on the 1-hour Bruce plate; there is nothing in its position. Stewart's description certainly reads as if he's seen a defect: "F, cS, R, indistinct, nr. edge of plate, susp." ===== IC 2062. Found by Bigourdan near NGC 1560, this is nothing more than a star. Bigourdan's offsets point precisely to the star, and were made on the same nights as his observations of N1560, so there is no possibility that this might be a reobservation of N1560 (as suggested by CGCG, and as believed by me until I found Bigourdan's observations). The identity in RC2 is my fault; my embarrassment is real. Sorry, guys. ===== IC 2067. This is a reflection nebula at Roberts's position. It is brighter on the blue survey plates than on the red, and is brightest to the southwest of the star, just as Roberts describes. However, it actually extends further to the northeast, though is barely visible there. I've taken the position of the star as that for the nebula. ===== IC 2069 may be the faint star at the position I've given in the table. That position is close to Stewart's nominal position. However, Stewart marks the object "Suspected" which means that he's seen it on just one plate. Since there are several other objects on the same part of this plate (1-hour Bruce plate 4199 from Arequipa) that are also marked "Suspected", and clearly do not exist (see e.g. I2076, I2084), I wonder if this object, too, is a defect on the Bruce plate. (Is the star possibly a double? I thought so examining it once on the DSS, but not a second or third time. If so, the secondary is very faint and completely blended with the primary.) The star appears single on the DSS2 images. ===== IC 2071. Fifteen years ago, going over the field on the DSS, I interpreted this as a compact group of 4-6 galaxies. Examining it now (June 2014) on the three DSS2 images shows it to be a blue, probably dwarf, late-type barred spiral with very knotty arms. Coincidentally, there is a background Sb about 30 arcseconds to the west (that probably appeared as a part of the image on Stewart's plate) that I took to be the second-brightest galaxy in the group. I've given a position for the center of the bar, for a few of the brighter knots, and for the galaxy to the west. ===== IC 2072 may be the galaxy I've listed in the table. However, Stewart's position is more than 3 arcmin off -- quite a bit for him -- and this object, like several others on the 1-hour Bruce plate 4199 (see I2069) is marked "Suspected". So, the identification is not secure. In fact, I suspect (no pun or sarcasm intended!) that Stewart's object is actually a plate defect. So, I've put a couple of question marks on the galaxy's name in the table. ===== IC 2074 is a triple star at Bigourdan's position. It is one of several that he called "very small nebulous clusters". He claims to have first noticed this one on 8 January 1886 while measuring NGC 1590, but he did not measure it until (exactly) 13 years later. The identification is not in doubt. ===== IC 2075 = NGC 1594. Bigourdan searched for NGC 1594 on only a single night (17 Jan 1895), and did not find it. Instead, he found another nebula about 20 seconds preceding the NGC position. Instead of calling this "NGC 1594", he made it a "nova", number 260 in his list of new nebulae. Perhaps later, when he was preparing his large table for publication, he added a note to the description of his "new" object, "It is, without doubt, NGC 1594 with a 20 second error in RA." While I was working on SEGC, I came to the same conclusion. See NGC 1594 for a bit more. Briefly: Howe caught Swift's poor RA, too, but Dreyer did not notice that Howe's and Bigourdan's places were nearly the same. So, the IC number stuck. ===== IC 2076 is probably a defect on the Bruce plate from Arequipa. Like several other objects on this plate (see IC 2069), Stewart marked it "Suspected". All of these can of course be checked on the original plate, still in the plate library at Harvard (unless they've thrown it out). ===== IC 2077 = NGC 1593 = NGC 1608. See NGC 1593 for the brief story. ===== IC 2078 is a star. Bigourdan's position is only three arcsec north of the GSC position, so the identity is certain. ===== IC 2080 is the only one of Howe's third list of new nebulae which he did not measure micrometrically. He gives a position estimated with respect to NGC 1594 (which see) for which he did measure a corrected position. Unfortunately, he forgot to correct that reference position when he calculated the estimated position for his new object. So, the RA of I2080 shares the same from the real RA as NGC 1594 (a little under 30 seconds of time). Dreyer also did not notice the problem, so I2080 has been lost for some time. Once the correction to N1594's RA is made, though, I2080 appears very close to where Howe found it: about 90 seconds east and 3 arcmin north of N1594. ===== IC 2081. See IC 2082. ===== IC 2082 is the brightest galaxy -- actually a pair of galaxies with a superposed star -- in the cluster Abell S0463. The "S" denotes a "supplemental" cluster, not rich enough to be included in the main Abell catalogue, but still of sufficient interest to mention. Other IC galaxies in the cluster are IC 2081, IC 2083, IC 2085, and IC 2086. ===== IC 2083 is a barred spiral with a disturbed outer ring. It also has a bright knot, or possibly the disturbing companion galaxy, superposed on the western end of the bar. It is one of the members of the cluster Abell S0463 of which IC 2082 is the brightest galaxy. ===== IC 2084 is probably a plate defect. See IC 2076 for more. ===== IC 2085. See IC 2082. ===== IC 2086. See IC 2082. ===== IC 2088 may well be LBN 792 (= LBN 172.09-14.64), a large (6 deg by 2 deg patch of nebulosity in northern Taurus). This suggestion comes from Dave Riddle. Earlier, I had written that I2088 might be "... a plate defect on Wolf's plate, a very low surface brightness nebulosity that does not show up on the POSS1 plates, a photographic effect of some kind, or perhaps even the unresolved Milky Way." However, I hesitate to declare this a simple defect on the basis of POSS1 because Wolf's description, especially the orientation of the nebula along the plane of the Milky Way, is creditable. He may even have seen the California Nebula and gotten the position wrong -- though I doubt it. He gives the position only to a whole degree, and he would have to be several degrees off to have got NGC 1499. LBN 792 is closer, however, with Wolf's admittedly crude position close to being inside the boundaries of Lynd's nebula. It's possible, too, that he was simply seeing the Milky Way. He comments that "The nebula is separated from the Pleiades nebula by a star hole [sic], many degrees long and ranging from tau Tauri to xi Persei." This sounds to me like a description of a large dark cloud, or simply the falling off of the Milky Way as the Galactic latitude increases. Or it could be as simple as uneven emulsion, or even vignetting, on his early plates. We need to examine them, if they still exist. Here is Wolf's full description from AN 4082, translated by Wolfgang Steinicke (thanks, Wolfgang!): Another nebula [the others he mentions in this note are IC 1831 and IC 2177] being extended, too, but pretty diffuse -- perhaps due to its faintness -- and structureless, was found in Taurus with different small lenses. It measures at least 3 by 5 degrees; the longer axis lies in the direction of iota Tauri toward xi Persei. The nebula is separated from the Pleiades nebula by a star hole [presumeably a vacancy], many degrees long and ranging from tau Tauri to xi Persei. The center of the extended nebula is roughly at RA = 4h 35m, Dec = +27d [for 1855]. Dave wrote that he thinks that Wolf's position is simply off by a few degrees and that his nebulosity could be LBN 792, 799, or 800. I looked at all of these, and think that 792 is the best match, both in description ("pretty diffuse ... and structureless") and in position (the separation of the nominal positions is 2 deg 53 arcmin). LBN 799 is narrow and rather serpentine, definitely not structureless, while LBN 800 is full of dark patches. Both are considerably smaller in at least one dimension than Wolf's estimate, and both are further from his nominal position than is LBN 792. Very little of this, by the way, is visible on the DSS2 images, at least as they are served up by HEASARC's SkyView; much larger fields than one degree are needed. While SkyView can be coaxed into giving larger DSS fields, they are slow to download and detail is lost except on huge monitors. In any event, the above description of the situation as I gave it roughly 15 years ago stands today (June 2014) as the best I can do at the moment. ===== IC 2090 is lost. Swift's position is bad -- there is nothing nearby that matches his description "vF, pS, R; 3 stars in line near sp nearly point to it." There is also nothing at the positions implied by the possible digit errors that plague Swift's later positions (I've not checked at -44 deg; that would put the galaxy only 12 degrees above Swift's southern horizon; he rarely searched that far south). Other objects that he found on the same night (5 Oct 1896) are no help. Swift's positions for IC 346 (found by Frank Muller a decade earlier) and I2008 (= I2007, found by Swift himself) average 15 seconds too small in RA and right on in Dec (though with a large scatter). There is nothing at this implied position, either. ===== IC 2091 is one of ten new "nebulae" claimed by Isaac Roberts on a photograph of the field around NGC 1665. Seven of these (IC 2094, 2097-99, 2101, and 2102) actually are galaxies, and are indeed new. I2091, however, is a group of five faint stars, apparently blurred together into a single "Stellar nucleus surrounded by faint nebulosity" on Roberts's plate. Since he was using a 20-inch reflector, the plate scale must have been rather small. This, poor seeing, and a long exposure on a grainy plate may account for the asterisms that he saw as nebulous. The same thing happened with IC 2100 (which see), a double star also on Roberts's plate though discovered by Bigourdan and properly credited to him by Roberts. Rather frustratingly, Roberts gives no details about exposure times or emulsion types -- just the sort of thing that would help us to better understand what he was describing on his plates. He does go on about the nebulae on this particular plate, however, noting many of them as spirals, and saying that WH did not see this feature or that in those that were known previously. I believe that Roberts's plates are now at the Observatoire de Paris. If so, it may be possible to examine them to see if -- as I suspect in the cases of IC 2092 and IC 2096 -- defects are masquerading as nebulae. Roberts also has an interesting note ending his short paper, saying that many of the faint "nebulae" being discovered on photographic plates by other astronomers are nothing more than stars blurred by seeing ("atmospheric tremors"). ===== IC 2092 is a line of three stars with a fourth just south of the western-most in the line. That, at least, is the only "object" near Roberts's position, measured on a plate of the NGC 1665 field. See IC 2091 for more about this plate, and the nebulae that Roberts found on it. The description written by Roberts for this object reads, "Small spiral nebula with bright stellar nucleus; indication of star on south end." I wonder if there was a defect tangled up with the stars. There is, in any event, no galaxy or other nebula here. ===== IC 2093 is a star. Even though Bigourdan measured it only once on 20 December 1897, his measurement points directly at the star so there can be no doubt as to which object he saw. LEDA and Wolfgang incorrectly picked a nearby galaxy that is several arcmin away from Bigourdan's star. ===== IC 2094. See IC 2091. ===== IC 2095. This is an edgewise galaxy with a faint nucleus that shows up well in the red and infrared images. There is also a blue star -- or perhaps a stellar knot in the galaxy -- superposed just southwest of the nucleus. This shows up clearly on the SDSS image; the SDSS position, in fact, applies to this star. Finally, there is a companion galaxy attached to the eastern end of IC 2095 by a faint bridge. This may account for the slight distortions that we see in the thin disc of the larger galaxy. Also see IC 2091 for more on Roberts's discovery plate. ===== IC 2096 is a line of three stars on Isaac Roberts's plate of the field around NGC 1665. See IC 2091 for more on this plate. Robert's description is interesting: "Small right-hand spiral nebula; with stellar nucleus; elongated; indications of condensations." As with IC 2092, I suspect a defect was involved with the stars. ===== IC 2097. See IC 2091. ===== IC 2098. See IC 2091. ===== IC 2099 is not NGC 1677 as I had supposed fifteen years ago when I went over this field for SEGC. See N1677 = N1659 for that story, and see IC 2091 for more on Roberts's photograph of the NGC 1665 field. ===== IC 2100 is a double star found by Bigourdan and later picked up on Roberts's plate of the NGC 1665 field (see I2091 for more about that). Roberts's and Bigourdan's descriptions are more or less accordant: Roberts: Bigourdan 380 is shown on the photograph as a pretty bright stellar nucleus surrounded by nebulosity elongated in sf to np direction. Bigourdan: Pretty stellar object, a little nebulous, granulated, round and about 12 arcsec in diameter. Roberts gives no coordinates, but the double star is in fact oriented as he states. Bigourdan has four measurements on the night he found the double, 17 December 1897, and they point unmistakably at the double. ===== IC 2101. See IC 2091. ===== IC 2102. See IC 2091. ===== IC 2107 = NGC 1707, which see, is an astersim of four stars (a fifth, considerably fainter is just north). Bigourdan, misled by JH's 30 second error in the RA of NGC 1707, measured a star which he thought a bit nebulous (it isn't) and called it N1707. Eleven years later, he returned to the field and found the real N1707, but still not recognizing JH's error, put it into one of his lists of new nebulae. Thus, the IC number. Reinmuth was apparently the first to make the connection between the two numbers. ===== IC 2108 = NGC 1710. Bigourdan measured an object near NGC 1710 which he thought was a nova. This appeared as the 261st of his new nebulae, so received an IC number. Later, before preparing his big table for publication, he received the list of micrometrically-measured nebulae from Leander McCormick Observatory. There, he found that his nova is identical to N1710. He also measured a faint star nearby which he labels simply "Nova" in his big table. However, he appends a note saying, "This nebula was at first taken to be NGC 1710; the measures later published by L. McCormick [sic] show that N1710 = 261 Big." ===== IC 2109 and IC 2110 are stars. Found on a "slightly stormy" night by Bigourdan in January of 1885, he looked at these again in December of 1898 and could see no nebulosity at all. Nevertheless, he measured them both nights, and his reduced coordinates are accurate. ===== IC 2110 is a star. See IC 2109 for the short story. ===== IC 2111 is indeed a bright nebula, probably an HII region or a clump of stars, in NGC 1722 in the LMC. As with several other such nebulae, this was found by Williamina Fleming on an objective prism plate taken at Arequipa. She did not, however, make the association with JH's "knot of clustering stars." This particular object is interesting as it has three bright knots. I've given positions for each knot in the table, as well as a mean for all three. If the original plate still exists, it would be interesting to see if it resolved the knots. In that case, we might be able to assign the IC number to one or another of the knots. ===== IC 2113 = NGC 1730, which see. ===== IC 2114 = NGC 1748. Found on a Harvard objective prism plate by Williamina Fleming, this stellar object entered the catalogue because of its "nebular" emission lines. This also led to its initial classification as a "planetary" nebula. Without having the original plate to examine, I nevertheless suspect that this is the bright knot on the eastern edge of NGC 1748 that was picked up in the GSC scan. If so, then this is actually an HII region in the N1743 complex in the LMC. Four parts of this were seen by John Herschel and received NGC numbers: the others are N1737, N1743, and N1745 (which is not a star cluster as supposed in the ESO/Uppsala catalogue). ===== IC 2115 and IC 2116 are both described in the IC as "Planetary, stellar." Like IC 2111, IC2114 and IC 2117, both were found on Harvard objective prism plates by Williamina Fleming. Also like those three, the positions are not very good, falling on blank areas of the LMC north and east of NGC 1763. ESO's contention that the IC objects are both identical to N1763 can't be true: The descriptions rule out the identities since N1763 (which see) is a large complex of HII regions and star clusters in the LMC. Annie Cannon in Harvard Obs. Bulletin 891 (my thanks to Dave Riddle for pointing me to this) makes I2116 equal to NGC 1769, but the same reasoning also rules out this identity. Cannon also suggests that I2115 is CPD -66 346 = HD 268726. Going over the field again independently before Dave sent the reference to Cannon's paper, I came to the same conclusion. However, Brian Skiff points out that the star is a normal blue giant with no emission lines. This definitively rules it out as Fleming's object -- she discovered that because of its emission lines. So, we clearly need to inspect the original Harvard plate on which Fleming found I2115. This would leave the bright nebulous star (HD 32340) at 04 57 09.8, -66 27 52 (1950; for J2000, 04 57 16.1, -66 23 21; compare with Brian's note below) as IC 2116. This at least is an emission object, so is likely to be one of those that Fleming discovered. I've adopted this identification, though again with some doubt that might be resolved by inspection of the original plate. There are two fainter stars in the neighborhood besides those I've listed in the main table (both B1950.0): 04 57 15.92 -66 28 57.2 (or for J2000: 04 57 22.03 -66 24 26.2) 04 57 19.98 -66 27 55.8 (or for J2000: 04 57 26.25 -66 23 25.1) Neither of these seems likely to me to be any of Fleming's objects. In November of 2007, Brian Skiff spent some time going over the field. Here is what he had to say about it: I have had another look at the ID problems in the region of NGC 1763 that includes HD 32256, 32279, and 32340. As mentioned previously, the early Harvard coordinates are relatively poor, so a definitive answer may not be had without reference to the original logbooks, plate-marks, etc. All coordinates mentioned below are for J2000. It is helpful to look at the DSS short-V plate-scan with some sort of coordinates reference (Aladin, SkyView, etc) to see the bright stars/nebulae that would have been all that was detected by the Harvard observers. The various deep sky-survey exposures have the nebulae too overexposed. Also useful is the large-scale chart drawn by Mati Morel and contained in his "LMC selected areas" charts (chart 6 in this publication). The HD catalogue coordinates and description for HD 32256 seem to apply to the western lobe of the nebula NGC 1763. The HD links this specifically with the nebulous object CPD-66 344 (CPD coords 04 56 45.5 -66 24 36). The HD description mentions that a strong continuum is present along with emission lines, including the remark that "the spectrum may belong to the P Cygni class." So evidently the constituent star(s) were observed. Thus, it seems reasonable to give it the position (rounded to some convenient degree) of PGMW 3120, which is a bright clump of O-type stars at: 04 56 45.80, -66 24 46.8, with the intention that this represent the western lobe of the nebula. This is just 4" from the CPD position, which is clearly what was measured for the CPD itself. Not entirely incidentally, the second clump about 30" SW is unambiguously HD 268715 at 04 56 43.24, -66 25 02.6, some 29" from the CPD position. For HD 32279, the HD coordinates and spectral type (Pc = emission nebula) seem to apply to the eastern lobe of NGC 1763. The nominal coordinates are on the north side of this lobe (04 57 00, -66 22.9). The HD remarks say this is IC 2115, which may be correct! Again for the sake of having some reproducible position assigned to the HD (and IC?) object, I adopt the position of PGMW 3223, one of the O-type stars/clumps near the center of the nebula (04 57 00.86, -66 24 25.1). Round-off as desired. Again the nearby star/clump to the southwest is unambiguously HD 268721 (04 56 58.97, -66 24 38.2), which is very similar in brightness. Now, the HD position for HD 32340 precesses to 04 57 30, -66 24.0. This is about 90" southeast of the compact nebula IC 2116 = LHA 120-N 11A at 04 57 16.25, -66 23 20.8. Since the discovery is from objective-prism plates (the HD and IC objects are the same object from the same report), we have to assume the object was compact enough to produce a recognizable spectrum on the plates. This argues for this object rather than NGC 1769, which is what is specified in the HD remarks, and which lies about 4' off to the southeast, and which has HD 268743 as its illuminating star (a cluster actually). Nearby to the west of IC 2116 is the non-emission star HD 268726 (04 57 08.82, -66 23 25.2), which has no identification problem. Lacking emission in the HDE type and in modern spectra, it cannot be IC 2115 or IC 2116. In summary: HD 32256 = NGC 1763-west: 04 56 46 -66 24.8 (J2000) HD 32279 = NGC 1763-east = ? IC 2115: 04 57 01 -66 24.1 (J2000) HD 32340 = IC 2116 = LHA 120-N 11A: 04 57 16.25 -66 23 20.8 (2MASS, J2000) I think this all hangs reasonably well. The Harvard source positions are soft enough that it is possible to conclude that IC 2115 is actually LHA 120-N 11A, which then forces the identity NGC 1769 = IC 2116. The large Dec offset compared to how well the other IDs agree makes this less likely in my opinion (and it is only that). I hope this clears up the questions from Francois Ochsenbein, though some rejiggering of SIMBAD aliases is implied! I think he's done as well as anyone can without reference to the original plates, so I've adopted his identification for IC 2116, and have put his for IC 2115 into the position table, too. I've also kept the smaller knot in NGC 1763 that I picked up on earlier; it is HD 268721 which Brian mentions above, a part of his larger object. ===== IC 2116 is probably not NGC 1769 as some have claimed, but may be a knot in it. See IC 2115. ===== IC 2117 is southern-most of four or five HII knots in NGC 1770 (Dave Riddle has reached the same conclusion; he notes that it is also HD 32364). Some catalogues, in particular ESO-B, have equated the NGC and IC numbers, but this (as Wolfgang and I independently found) is incorrect. Fleming's nebulae are all compact and were discovered by the appearance of emission lines in their spectra. She called them "planetaries", following Pickering's classification; see IC 2114-6 for other examples. NGC 1770 on the other hand, is a large, nebulous, LMC star cloud well- described by JH in his CGH Observations. On the DSS, the entire complex is about 5 arcmin by 4 arcmin. I2117 is toward the southern edge. ===== IC 2118. I had suggested that this may also be NGC 1909, but consulting the Herschel Archive has disabused me of THAT idea. See the note for NGC 1909 for the story. About IC 2118 itself, Max Wolf notes in his MNRAS discovery paper that NGC 1779, 1797, and 1799; as well as IC 398 and 402 are involved with this large nebula. All of these, of course, are galaxies which we see through the Galactic diffuse nebulae spread over the area. The nebulosity is BIG, approximately 3 degrees long, stretching primarily northeast to southwest. The brightest portion is more or less straight east of psi (65) Eridanus, and it is to this area that I've assigned the position. The IC position, apparently estimated by Dreyer from Wolf's sketch, is a bit too far east -- it precesses to 05 06.7, -07 14 for J2000. I would put it closer to 05 05.2, -07 00 based on the sketch. ===== IC 2119. The IC NPD for 1860 is ten degrees too small, while that for 1900 is correct. This is clearly a typo. There is another mystery here, though. Howe caught Swift's 10 arcmin error in declination before the second IC went to press, so Dreyer adopted Howe's (correct) position. However, Howe claims to have seen Swift's "eeeF D *" at a distance of 90 arcsec and a position angle of 210 degrees from the galaxy. There is nothing there. Further, Howe has the magnitudes of the two stars equal at 12.5. The two stars that Swift presumeably saw are about 30 seconds away at a PA of roughly 135 degees, and are much fainter than 12.5. Swift's description also says "between 2 stars"; these two stars are about 5 arcmin west-northwest and east-southeast of the galaxy. So, even though Howe clearly saw the correct object -- his position is correct -- his description of the star field is wrong. I do not know what happened. ===== IC 2120. This is Comet 113/P Spitaler 1890. Bigourdan observed the comet about an hour and a half before returning to the field, apparently to reobserve it. Confusion set in somehow, since Bigourdan's precise offsets for the "nebula" fall within an arcsecond of the position of the comet at the time of his obsevation (thanks to Brian Marsden for computing the comet's position at that time). Since Bigourdan did not collect and assemble his observations of nebulae until years after his actual work at the eyepiece, it is possible that he simply misread his observing logs for the evening. The incorrect identification of IC 2120 as a planetary (though actually a compact HII region, it is listed as PK 169-00.1) comes from Minkowski (PASP 59, 257, 1947), but his object is 39 arcmin southwest of Bigourdan's position. Why Minkowski chose to call the nebula IC 2120 is not obvious, but it is certainly wrong. The full story is set out in two short papers in the Quarterly Journal of the Webb Society ("What is IC 2120?" by B. Skiff, H. Corwin, B. Archinal, R. Erdmann, S. Gottlieb, A. Ling, and O. Brazell, No. 104, Page 1, April 1996; and "IC 2120 -- The Final Chapter?" by H. Corwin, B. Skiff, B. Marsden, and G. Williams, No. 105, Page 1, July 1996). ===== IC 2121 may be the object that Swift intended as IC 408 (which see). Barnard's position for IC 408, obtained at Swift's request, is in an empty field. IC 2121 is at roughly the correct declination, but its right ascension is 1.9 minutes of time to the east. Its description by Swift from his December 1897 observation is appropriate, but Swift's description for IC 408 only tantalizingly fits IC 2121. Still, it's a possibility, so I've put the first IC number in the table, too. ===== IC 2123 = IC 412 and IC 2124 = IC 413. This interacting pair was discovered twice by Barnard and not published either time. Javelle did publish his observations. Curiously, considering the near-coincidence of the positions, neither Barnard nor Dreyer apparently considered the possibility of the identities. That had to wait half a century for CGCG. The story for I412 and I413 says the same thing, but in a slightly different way. See that if you're unbearably curious. ===== IC 2124 = IC 413. See IC 2123 = IC 412. ===== IC 2126 is NGC 1935, a small though bright HII region in the LMC. There is no doubt about the identity as Fleming's position is within an arcminute of the NGC object. The IC description "Planetary; stellar" (shared with about a dozen other LMC HII regions, some of which we will need the original plates to identify unambiguously) is also appropriate, considering the source on Harvard objective prism plates. There is also another HII region nearby, NGC 1936 = IC 2127, which see. Fleming's position and description for that, too, is appropriate. See the notes for NGC 1935 and NGC 1936 for information about other objects in the area, and JH's sketch of them. ----- Note, too, that Brent Archinal has this listed in his table of clusters in the Milky Way, but under the number IC 2127 = Fleming 91. He does call it a "nebula", the "brightest in a large complex", though the position he gives is for the second brightest in the cloud. I wonder why this appears as a Galactic object rather than as an HII region in the LMC as it really is. To add to this modern mystery is an entry for "IC 2126" in the AH table of LMC objects under a position that is 57 arcseconds off the IC object; this entry actually applies to the third brightest HII region in this LMC complex, not the second as Brent has it. He has no table entries for the brightest HII region in the complex which is, of course, NGC 1935 = IC 2127. ===== IC 2127 = NGC 1936. See IC 2126 where the story for that object is appropriate for this one, too. ----- Note that Brent Archinal in "Star Clusters" has an entry under this number that actually applies to IC 2126 -- but the entry appears in the table of Milky Way clusters. See IC 2126 for that story. ===== IC 2128 is a star cloud in the LMC. It was found by Solon Bailey on Harvard plates and included in his list of the brightest and largest non-stellar objects in the sky. He calls it a cluster with some nebulosity involved -- as indeed there is -- and with a diameter of 4 arcmin. With only 15 stars between the 10th and 14th magnitudes, it is not as noticeable as the nearby NGC 1929, but I'm still a bit surprised that JH did not pick this up. Perhaps with all the other distracting pleasures offered by the LMC, he simply missed it. Bailey's position is a bit off the center of the object, but it is close enough to insure the identification. The ESO star cluster is just a part of the considerably larger IC object, though the brightest HII region in the cloud is involved with the ESO cluster. ===== IC 2129 = IC 2130. This is one of Swift's late (December 1897) discoveries from Lowe Observatory on Echo Mountain, and is identical to IC 2130, found 14 months earlier, also by Swift, also from Lowe. Swift's position for IC 2129, as suggested by Andris Lauberts in the ESO/Uppsala list, is about 30 seconds of time, and 5 arcmin off. Swift's note, "7m * near sf" is correct. For the IC, Dreyer changed this note to read "* 7 ssf". I suspect that he had some correspondence with Swift (see, for example, IC 2131 where the IC position is different from those published by Swift). In SGC, I suggest that the RA of IC 2129 is about a minute of time off leading to a much fainter galaxy, MCG -04-14-001. However, that has a prominent double star nearby to the northeast which Swift surely would have noted. Since he did not, I am pretty confident about the identity with IC 2130. ===== IC 2130 = IC 2129 (which see) is fairly close to Swift's position. His description fits, too, aside from a mistake in the direction of the neighboring star: it is southeast, not northeast as Swift made it. ===== IC 2131 = IC 422. This is one of the galaxies that actually gives us a bit of insight into Dreyer's working methods. In the introduction to IC2, he makes no mention of any correspondence with Lewis Swift -- yet that must have happened in this case (see also I2129 = I2130 for another instance of Swift's published data, the description in that instance, not agreeing with the IC2 data). The position for IC 2131 given in all of Swift's original papers is 05 29 53, -17 17.8 (precessed to B1950.0 from B1900), a bit off the galaxy to the southwest. Yet the IC2 carries the position 05 30 03, -17 15.4, very close to the actual position, and very close Javelle's micrometrically measured position given in IC1 for I422. So, Dreyer obviously had some additional input from Swift on this object. Along with other evidence in the IC itself (e.g. the many unpublished IC nebulae credited to Barnard), this suggests that Dreyer had an extensive correspondence with the astronomers working in the field of nebulae. If this correspondence still exists, it may be another source of data that we can use to help debug the IC's. About this object: there is no question about the identity. The positions and descriptions are too similar. Again, I'm faintly surprised that neither Dreyer nor Swift caught the identity. Given the frequency of such positional coincidences (see e.g. I2123 = I412 and I2124 = I413), I am beginning to wonder if IC2 was a bit of a chore for Dreyer, taken on not out of any lingering love for cataloguing new nebulae, but simply from a sense of duty. This is just a suspicion at the moment. I suspect that Dreyer's correspondence -- if it still exists -- might offer more clues. ===== IC 2133 = NGC 1961. Here is one of the objects that force me to ask the question "What was Bigourdan thinking?" He measured it twelve times on three nights, could not find NGC 1961 when he looked for it on one of those nights, and must have been aware that WH's positions were subject to large accidental errors. So, how could Bigourdan believe that his "Big. 385" was a new object and not the one that WH found? Well, he obviously did because the object ended up in the 2nd IC. Dreyer discovered the identity a few years later when he prepared WH's Scientific Papers for publication. There is no doubt about the identity, either. So, "What was Bigourdan thinking?" (Obviously, a rhetorical question.) Also see NGC 1961 for the story of WH's mistaken position. ===== IC 2135 = IC 2136, which see. ===== IC 2136 = IC 2135. Swift's declination for IC 2136 is 10 degrees too far north. This is certain; his description from his 11th list reads in full, "eF, pS, eE, almost a ray; [NGC] 1963 p." Since the degree of declination of N1963 is -36, that for I2136 must be the same. Also, there are no galaxies at -26 close to Swift's RA that match his description. So, the identity with I2135 is clear. Swift has an interesting observational note in his 11th list about this object and one other (IC 335 = IC 1963, which see): "Nos. 56 and 81. These in one respect are the most interesting nebulae I have ever seen, especially No. 56 [IC 335 = IC 1963], which is a nebulous hair-line of one uniform size from end to end. No. 81 [IC 2135 = IC 2136] at first sight seemed identical with it, but on a closer view the center seemed to have a very slight bulging in the middle." I wonder if he got his numbers in this note backwards. Both galaxies are indeed spindles, but IC 335 is an early type with a clearly seen nuclear bulge while IC 2135 is a later type with just a faintly visible bulge. Note, too, that this I2135 is NOT NGC 1963 (which see) as claimed by PGC, and (unfortunately) by extension, RC3. N1963 is an apparent cluster found by JH about a minute of time preceding the galaxy, which he did not see. The LEDA folks must have assumed a digit error without checking the NGC description. Finally, this is one of five nebulae that Swift found on the night of 22 February 1898, and one of the three that we can now identify. See IC 2595 for more about the nebulae found on that night. ===== IC 2137 = IC 2138. There are only two galaxies here bright enough to be seen easily at the eyepiece, NGC 1979 and the object that carries two IC numbers. Bigourdan found and measured the IC galaxy first in December of 1887. He examined it twice again, measuring it only one more time, however, on 11 February 1898. Coincidentally, Lewis Swift discovered the galaxy a second time just three days later, but made a 10 arcmin error in the declination. His description, including the relative position of the nearby bright star and N1979 is correct on that second night. His first discovery of it had come just three months earlier in December 1897; that night, his position was closer to the truth. His description from that night, however, contains two errors. He noted the bright star -- Bigourdan's comparison star -- as preceding the galaxy instead of following, and placed the galaxy "s[outh] f[ollowing] of [NGC] 1980". This is an obvious transcription error since N1980 is at -6 degrees, not -23 as is the correct object, N1979. Dreyer used Bigourdan's position and description in the second IC, combining it with Swift's first observation to form the entry for IC 2138. Swift's observation with the wrong declination became IC 2137. ===== IC 2138 = IC 2137, which see. ===== IC 2139. This is a triple star at Bigourdan's measured place. Even though he describes it as a small cluster one night in December 1891, it appeared to him "clearly nebulous" on a second night in January 1897. He as six measurements of its position -- the avearge agrees almost perfectly with the modern mean position from the 2MASS PSC. Bigourdan also noted the brighter star 1.2 arcminutes to the west. ===== IC 2141 is a triple star close to Innes's position. The triple appears to be quite bright on the southern survey plates -- perhaps this is why ESO missed it, assuming that such a bright object could not be mistaken for a nebula. The asterism may actually have more than three stars -- the southeastern star appears to be a merged double on the DSS. This may be a digitization effect, however. Innes's description reads "Equal to 9.7m, round, 10 arcsec diameter, brighter in middle." This is probably quite accurate for the 7-inch refractor that he was using, but were I compiling the IC, I think that I would call the object "pB" rather than "F" as Dreyer did. ===== IC 2144 is just where Barnard places it. He notes two 12th magnitude stars nearby. One, "npp 2 arcmin" is on the sky as he claims, but the second star is 1 arcmin north of the galaxy, not south as Barnard claims. It is difficult to tell on the DSS1 (but not on DSS2), but it looks as though there is a star superposed (it is probably actually involved with the object; see the next paragraph for more). The position I've measured on DSS is for this star, as is the UCAC position I've chosen to represent the object. There has also been some question about the nature of the object. Takata et al in A&AS 104, 529, 1994 have it in their Table 3, "List of galactic objects with extended image" [sic] as one of 17 objects which "... show spectra of galactic objects in our optical measurements." They point back to Westerhout and Brand (A&AS 80, 149, 1989 where the object is No. 711 = IRAS 05471+2351), who have measured ^12^CO emission from the object with a velocity of 2.0 km/s. This makes it pretty certain that IC 2144 is an HII region in the Milky Way. The Galactic position of 184.87, -1.73 degrees suggests a visual extinction of about 8.7+- magnitudes, so if this were a galaxy, it would be quite a remarkable one to be seen at all. ===== IC 2145 = NGC 2086, which see. ===== IC 2147. Swift published this particular nebula four different times (at least he didn't claim it as a different nebula each time; see IC 5003 = IC 5029 = IC 5039 = IC 5046 for the story on a pair that he DID claim eight different numbers for). It is number 15 in his 6th list of nebulae found at Lowe Observatory on Echo Mountain (now Mount Lowe), and is also included in his large eleventh list published in AN (collecting most of the nebulae from the 8 shorter lists previously published). Curiously, the details of the nearby star field change slightly from paper to paper. However, the major notes are clear: there are "several bright stars south-following" and "three stars north [in a] curved [line]." The "faint star north-preceding" that made it into the IC description is noted once as a "faint star near preceding." This latter comment is more nearly correct unless Swift made a transcription error: "north-preceding" for "south- preceding." In any case, Swift's detailed description of the star field (mostly left out of the IC) makes the identity clear: the correct galaxy is ESO 424-G013, 4.4 minutes of time preceding Swift's position. Lauberts first suggested this identity in ESO, but put a question mark on it. Had he seen the original lists, I suspect he would have dropped the query. ===== IC 2154 = NGC 2139. For once, a problem with an IC object discovered by Lewis Swift is not Swift's problem. His position, already better than average for those objects found by him in 1897, was pinned down by Herbert Howe. So, the identity problem rests with NGC 2139, which see. To make the longer story short, Dreyer found the trouble in WH's original records of the sweep in which N2139 was discovered. See the NGC object for a bit more. A curious footnote is Carlson's making this IC object a double star. She gives as her source a Mt. Wilson photograph. The Mt. Wilson observer (Hubble?) was confused somehow as the IC position is spot-on the galaxy. ===== IC 2155 is probably the galaxy which Wolfgang chose, but it is over two arcmin from Stewart's nominal position. So, I've listed two other candidates. Both are fainter, however, with lower surface brightnesses, so they are less likely to be the correct object. The first alternate also has a considerably brighter star just 15 arcsec southwest of the nucleus; this might have enhanced the visibility of the galaxy on the plate, but it might also have blotted it out entirely. Stewart's original description read "cF, vS, R, susp". Dreyer made the brightness "eF" for the IC; I suspect a transcription error since he took other "considerablies" from Stewart without changing them. ===== IC 2156 may be a part of IC 2157 (centered just six arcmin south), but I think it's more likely just a chance grouping of about a dozen stars. There is certainly no nebulosity involved, though Espin claims to have seen some on a photographic plate. His terse description reads, "Jan. 11 [1900] coarse cluster, a nebulous object on photographic plate". ===== IC 2157. Espin's position coincides almost exactly with the brightest star in his cluster, which he describes as "Jan. 11 [1900] Cl., triangular in shape, stars 9.5-14". I can make out at least two different triangular shapes on the DSS, so I am not quite sure which (if either) Espin meant. See also IC 2156 which may be a part of this. ===== IC 2159 is a part of NGC 2175 (which see). Bigourdan's long focus refractor could not show him the entire nebulosity, so he picked up only the two bright knots in it, plus a fairly star-free section of it southeast of the center. It is this southeastern portion that carries the IC number. I don't see anything special on the DSS, nor on the POSS1, which would have attracted his attention to this particular part of the nebula -- but nevertheless, there rests his approximate position, the same from two different nights. ===== IC 2162 = Sharpless 255 is the brighter and eastern of two very similar HII regions. Listed by Stewart Sharpless in his catalogue of HII regions (the western is No. 257), these two are among the brightest (though not the largest) HII regions in a large area of star formation in the northern reaches of Orion. Barnard apparently found the object visually (we need to look at his observing records to be sure). He sent the observation directly to Dreyer and did not publish it before the IC2 appeared. His position is about 10 seconds of time too large, but his description "vF, pL, R, * 10 inv p" is appropriate. The star "involved" is the central star -- the brightest portion of the nebula is the eastern side. ===== IC 2167 = IC 446. The same two objects were apparently discovered twice by Barnard (the second is IC 2169 = IC 447, which see). In this case, there is no question about the correct object even though neither of Barnard's positions is particularly good -- it is a star immersed in diffuse nebulosity. Barnard notes this star both times around, and I've adopted its position for the table. The apparent size of the nebula is about 5 x 5 arcmin. One thing I find puzzling is that Barnard does not mention the line of stars just south of the bright central star. Perhaps they are not eye-catching enough at the eyepiece, or perhaps they are lost in nebulosity on Barnard's plates (if he in fact found the nebula photographically). Whatever happened, these stars show well on the DSS. A few years after I wrote the paragraph just above, I was directed back to this field by Dave Riddle (his question actually involved IC 443 and IC 444, which see). He was kind enough to send a copy of Barnard's first discovery note published in "Astronomy and Astro-Physics", Vol. 8, No. 3. There, Barnard clearly describes not only NGC 2245 and NGC 2247, but also IC 446 and IC 447 as seen on a plate taken with a 6-inch Willard lens. Barnard later published the plate in Lick Publications, Vol. 11 as Plate 28 (the region was also covered by Plate 29). ===== IC 2168. The object found by Bigourdan on 1 Jan 1892 is not the same object as the one he measured on 5 March 1899. The IC position is the estimated position from the earlier observation, and is for a double star. The later position, micrometrically measured, is for the brightest star in an asterism of six stars (three very faint) three arcminutes from the double star. Why did Bigourdan save the earlier less precise position? His observations offer no clues. Just the opposite, in fact: the nearby IC 2170 (which see), observed on the same nights, has as its IC position the later micrometric position! ===== IC 2169 = IC 447. Neither of Barnard's positions is particularly good, though we can get close to the apparent center of his large, diffused nebulosity if we adopt his RA for IC 447 and his Dec for IC 2169. Even though his two positions are more than 10 arcmin apart, they clearly refer to the same object: it is big (I make it about 30 x 30 arcmin on the DSS). Barnard notes "several stars 9-10 involved"; those stars are indeed there. This and IC 2167 = IC 446 (which see) were not published by Barnard, but were among those objects whose positions were sent directly to Dreyer. I'm a bit surprised that one or the other of them did not catch the identities before Dreyer published the second IC. Some years after I wrote the above paragraph, Dave Riddle alerted me to Barnard's original publication (see IC 2167 above) where he did in fact publish descriptions and positions of the two IC1 nebulae. Interestingly, Barnard also retracted his discovery of IC 447 in Lick 11 (again, see IC 2167), incorrectly claiming it to be identical to NGC 2245 (which see for the story). The NGC object is a small, fairly compact nebula northeast of the much larger, more diffuse IC object. ===== IC 2170. As with IC 2168, Bigourdan's two observations refer to two different asterisms. The first observation, on 1 Jan 1892, is for a line of very faint stars just north of NGC 2242 (which he measured a month and a half later on 20 Feb), while the second seems to refer to a group of three rather widely separated stars southwest of NGC 2242 (there is a fourth, considerably fainter which Bigourdan apparently did not see). In contrast to IC 2168 (which see), it is this second measurement which is in the IC. Bigourdan has a "star 13.3 at PA = 250 deg, d = 0.8 armin" which is actually at PA 280 deg, so the NGC description should read "* 13 npp 0.8 arcmin." The position which I measured for the three stars is two seconds of time larger than Bigourdan's, placing his measured point just north of the western-most star. It is therefore possible that Bigourdan's object is simply the one star, not all three as I've supposed. In any case, both observations are well within his diameter estimate of 30 arcsec for his object, so there is no doubt that this is Bigourdan's object. ===== IC 2171 may be NGC 2283. This matches Barnard's note of "3 sts 10 around," if not his position. But the position, especially the RA, is only crudely given in the IC. Unfortunately, this is one of the many objects apparently sent directly to Dreyer; there is no reference to it in any of Barnard's articles that Dreyer cites. So, what we see in the IC is all there is to go on. There is thus also the possibility that Barnard's object is MCG -03-18-001. This is closer to Barnard's position, but the galaxy is fainter, and the three stars are not as obvious (though the low-latitude field is rich). A much more remote possibility is that the object is a flare or reflection from Sirius which has virtually the same RA as Barnard's object. But Barnard was an experienced observer, so this is very unlikely. ===== IC 2172 = NGC 2282. Barnard published the NGC data in AN 115, 323, 1886, but sent the IC2 data directly to Dreyer. The positions and descriptions are not only appropriate for this HII region, but are in such close agreement with each other that I'm surprised (again; see e.g. IC 2123 = IC 412 and IC 2124 = IC 413) that neither Barnard nor Dreyer caught the equality. Barnard's published description of the nebula is apt: "A 9 1/2m or 10m star surrounded by a faint nebulosity. The star is, I am confident, not perfectly stellar. Possibly a minute nebula with a faint atmosphere. 4' or 5' p. and slightly n. is a faint double star that I suspect is enveloped in nebulosity. Observed a number of times." Only his suspicion about nebulositiy around the double star is not borne out on the Sky Survey images. The double has a couple of fainter stars nearby that may have misled Barnard into thinking that he had seen nebulosity. Curiously, Barnard's micrometric measurement of the declination is off by about 13-14 arcsec. His RA is accurate, and the position he adopts for his comparison star (HD 49567) is only 2 arcsec off the FK5 value. Perhaps the distance between the two stars (18 arcmin, 41 arcsec) was too great for a totally accurate measurement. ===== IC 2173 is a star. Wolfgang got the correct object, Carlson -- who equated this with NGC 2291 -- did not. Bigourdan's offsets point exactly at the star. ===== IC 2175 is a double star. Bigourdan apparently made a transcription error preparing this for one of his Comptes Rendus lists: it appears there with the RA equal to "06 50 21" for the equinox 1860, while it should be "06 59 21". It appears at the correct position in his Appendix 7 of new nebulae, but has no note or correction that I've found. This number mistakenly appears on UGC 3623 courtesy of CGCG which apparently saw the IC number floating in space about 10 arcmin south of the galaxy. Not knowing about Bigourdan's real error, they assumed a 10 arcmin declination error. So it goes. ===== IC 2177. The IC position, claimed to have been taken from Isaac Roberts's short note in AN 3509, is not from that note. Roberts's position is for BD -10 1848 and the HII region surrounding it, and that is the position that I've adopted in the table. Roberts copied it correctly from the BD into his note, but the IC position points to a bit of non-descript space about 20 arcmin southeast of the HII region. There is an additional reference to this nebula in Wolf's note "Extended Nebulosities" in AN 4082, though Dreyer did not include that as a source for this object in the IC. Wolf notes that the nebula covers "many square degrees" and stretches at least from Roberts's nebula in the north on south to BD -12 1771. Wolf's description of this large star-forming region is fairly good as far as it goes. The brightest, largest nebula is indeed Roberts's, but Wolf found the 2.5-degree long S-shaped nebula to its south and east. This actually extends a bit more faintly at least another 2 degrees east from its northern end, but Wolf apparently did not photograph that portion of it. NGC 2327, a small compact nebula, probably also an HII region or at least a part of one, is embedded in the sinuous nebula south of I2177. I suspect that Dreyer was somewhat influenced by Wolf's description, so decided to give it some weight, but tried to retain Roberts's data as the main source for this object. This would account for the position southeast of the center of Roberts's object. So, I've simply gone back to his data for the main position for I2177. Given that Wolf's note is pretty accurate, though, I've also included the approximate center of gravity of his much larger S-shaped nebula under same number with a directional subscript. ===== IC 2179. Bigourdan did not often misidentify his comparison star -- but he did here. Interestingly, he caught the error before he published his list of new nebulae in CR 123, 1243, 1896 from which Dreyer took the position which appears in the IC -- the position given there is correct. But in Bigourdan's big table of observations, he still gives the comparison star as BD +65 562 (= SAO 14129), the same one used for his observations of NGC 2347. The correct star for the IC 2179 observations is BD +65 560, about 10 arcmin north-preceding the brighter star. Bigourdan also misidentified the nebulae, calling NGC 2347 "Big. 267," and IC 2179 (Big. 267) "NGC 2347." This assumes the common naming convention adopted by the modern catalogues with NGC 2347 being the southeastern of the two galaxies. At this point, I had a note that began "I wonder about this, however." No longer; re-reducing WH's observation, and checking the Herschel Archives as well as Auwers's reductions, I find that N2347 is clearly the southeastern galaxy. See the discussion of that for more information. ===== IC 2183 is probably a defect on the original plate. Stewart says of it "Nebula like wisp, extends 2 arcmin in dec, 3 stars to north, suspected." The three stars may be there -- it's a rich low-latitude field, so picking out the stars Stewart saw is difficult. However, the plate is a "short" exposure plate (just one hour rather than four), so the stars should be pretty bright on the DSS. Whatever the case, there is no nebula to the south. And we need to examine the original plate. ===== IC 2184. The IC position for this well-known double Markarian galaxy is badly off, though Dreyer copied it correctly from Bigourdan's list in Comptes rendus. Bigourdan gives no correction or notes to the position that I've been able to find in his voluminous publications. Fortunately, we can identify his comparison star (GSC 04368-00774) and reduce his four measurements on 24 January 1900. That position is very accurate and identifies the galaxy exactly. I find his description interesting, too: "A little stellar object, pretty granulated, surely nebulous, vaguely round and 20 arcsec in diameter; it is a little brighter toward the center, where I can see several very faint, small, stellar points." This corresponds well to the appearance on modern plates where the galaxise are seen to have at least five bright knots involved. I give positions for these in the table, and calculate the positions for the two galaxies -- and the entire system -- from these five. ===== IC 2186. This is one of two nebulae (the second is IC 2187) that Stephane Javelle found in February 1896. He reobserved IC 2187 just four years later, and found another (IC 2188) that he claimed to be situated between the other two objects. The problem he's left us is that the first of the positions he's given us -- that for IC 2186 -- falls on a blank patch of sky. IC 2187 and 2188 can be confidently identified with the two brightest objects in the field. Complicating things a bit is a third, fainter galaxy; could this be Javelle's third object? (Another candidate is a 13th magnitude star about an arcminute north of Javelle's position for IC 2186. Wolfgang took this star, but I do not think it is a likely candidate; more below.) When I went over this field in 1993, I suggested that it was not, that IC 2186 is in fact probably a first observation of IC 2188. After all, it and IC 2187 are the two brightest galaxies here. Why leave the brightest galaxy unobserved and take the faintest? My second time over the field in June 2014, I looked a little further into this question. Javelle measured all of his nebulae micrometrically; these three have the following offsets from a common comparison star, BD +21 1589 (Delta RA is in minutes and seconds of time, Delta Dec in arcminutes and arcseconds; reverse the sign of Delta Dec, of course, to get Delta NPD which is the number that Javelle actually gives us in his paper). The actual offsets from the star (taking the star's proper motion into account) are given in the final two columns; the numbers for 2186 are in parentheses to denote the questioned identification of the faint galaxy. Observed Actual IC Javelle Date Delta RA Delta Dec Delta RA Delta Dec 2186 996 11 Feb 1896 -1 25.85 +4 18.4 (-1 21.11 +4 16.2) 2187 997 11 Feb 1896 -1 25.55 +1 14.6 -1 25.59 +1 30.9 28 Feb 1900 -1 25.83 +1 27.2 2188 998 28 Feb 1900 -1 25.73 +3 08.0 -1 25.72 +3 17.7 Notice the internal agreement of the observations of IC 2187 -- reasonably good in RA, but pretty poor in Dec. The Dec offset for IC 2188 is also well off the actual number. Two things stand out in this short table. First, all of the observed RA offsets are very close together, while the actual RA offset of the questioned galaxy is different by 4.6 seconds. Second, the measured Dec offset of the questioned galaxy is just 1 arcmin 10.4 arcsec north of that for IC 2188, and the actual offset is 58.5 arcsec off the actual difference. This shows that Javelle's published offset could contain an error of exactly one arcminute, and still be well within his measuring error for these objects. Given that a transcription or typographical error of 1 arcminute is more likely than one of 4.6 seconds of time, I prefer to view the observation of IC 2186 as the first of IC 2188 rather than as an observation of the faintest galaxy in the field. Javelle's descriptions bear this out, too: for IC 2186 he writes, "Faint, round, [diameter =] 30 [arcsec], gradually condensed, granulated aspect" and for IC 2188, "Faint, ill-defined, [diameter =] 20 to 25 [arcsec], nucleus of magnitude 13.5". (For completeness and comparison, here is how he describes IC 2187: "Faint, round, [diameter =] 20 to 30 [arcsec] or more, aspect of a small whitish patch without condensation, very near a star of magnitude 11.5.") Had he seen the faintest galaxy, I think that he would have called IC 2186 "Very faint". I mentioned a star on north of IC 2188. Had Javelle observed it, its offsets would be -1 min, 25.50 sec, +5 arcmin 10.6 arcsec. This could plausibly be Javelle's third object with a +2 arcmin error in the declination offset, but the description he gives is not that of a star. The one arcmin digit error is also somewhat more likely than a two arcmin error, so I do not think that his observation points to the star. There is also a possibility that Javelle's misread his micrometer screw's scale. I have not yet been able to find the details of the instrument that he used, but that might have led to the 4.6 second RA error. Finally, there is nothing at the positions implied by errors of sign in his offsets. So, IC 2188 is the most likely candidate, though it is not with certainty Javelle's object; hence, the colons on the IC number in the position table. ===== IC 2187. See IC 2186. ===== IC 2188 is probably also IC 2186, which see. ===== IC 2189 is probably only a star, just as is IC 2206 (which see; this one at least is a Wolf-Rayet star) announced in the same papers by W. P. Fleming. Unfortunately, Fleming does not give us anything but an "approximate position" for this first nebula. There are no planetaries near the position, nor are there known novae or peculiar stars, either. Is it possible that this object has defects superposed on its spectrum, thus masquerading as a planetary? So, until we can examine the objective prism plate(s) taken with the 8-inch Draper telescope at Harvard, we'll not be sure just which star IC 2189 is. There are at least half a dozen candidates near the position, none of them in any way outstanding. Wolfgang chooses one, but a few others nearby stand just as good a chance of being the "correct" object. Some of the brighter blue stars within 3+- arcmin of Fleming's nominal position include those at RA (J2000.0) Dec V B-V Note 07 24 45.8 +08 57 43 11.12 0.16 07 24 53.1 +08 53 22 12.76 0.28 07 24 57.7 +08 54 27 13.45 0.59 Wolfgang's star 07 24 58.5 +08 57 22 13.77 0.33 Data are from 2MASS PSC (positions) and APASS (photometry). ===== IC 2192 is the faintest of three galaxies (the others are IC 2194 and IC 2196) picked up by Javelle from a group of at least six south of Castor. His position is good and unambiguously identifies the galaxy he saw as IC 2192. In addition, his description includes a note about a "star 14 nearly in contact"; the star is there. Barnard found five of the galaxies in May 1888. Dreyer questioned whether one of those, IC 2193, might be identical to this object. I don't think so. See IC 2193 for more. ===== IC 2193 is the first of five galaxies from among a group south of Castor first seen by Barnard in May of 1888. Barnard's positions, unfortunately, are not very good (mean offsets: -1.94 +- 1.03 seconds in RA; -2 arcmin 30 arcsec +- 38 arcsec in Dec), though he claims to have "carefully corrected" his telescope on Castor. His descriptions are also meager; this one merely reads, "Close p 10m star." So, Dreyer questioned whether this object might be identical to IC 2192, one of Javelle's three galaxies from the group. I don't think so, even though this galaxy is much brighter and I was initially surprised that Javelle missed it. After a few seconds examining his table, however, it's clear that his sweep took him through the middle of the group, so he saw neither the northern-most nor southern-most galaxies of the group. In any event, there is a star just northeast of the galaxy. I don't think it is close to 10th magnitude, but Barnard found this with a 12-inch refractor. So, it was probably easy to overestimate the brightness of a star near a fainter galaxy. ===== IC 2194. See IC 2192. ===== IC 2195 is almost certainly a plate defect. Stewart describes it as "cB, S, R, bM, susp". This would make it a fairly easy galaxy that JH probably would have picked up. Since there is no trace of the object on the sky, its identity as a defect is pretty certain. This can be checked, of course, as long as the Harvard plate (or a digitized scan of it) is still in existence. ===== IC 2196. See IC 2192 and IC 2197. ===== IC 2197. I'm not quite convinced that this is Barnard's object -- it is very faint, and is closely flanked by two brighter stars -- but there is nothing else in the area that matches both his position (the declination is the same as IC 2196's in his list) and his brief description. Perhaps the stars enhanced Barnard's view of the object. Note, too, that the position offsets are consistent with those for the rest of the group: -2.3 seconds for IC 2197, -1.94 +- 1.03 seconds for all five; and -2 arcmin 43 arcsec for IC 2197, -2 arcmin 30 arcsec +- 38 arcsec for all five. Wolfgang chose an even fainter galaxy-and-star pair a few arcmin to the south. I've left these in the table with question marks though I do not think that they are Barnard's intended object(s). They are even fainter than the objects closer to Barnard's position, and they do not share the systematic offsets in position of the other galaxies in Barnard's group. ===== IC 2199 is the last of the galaxies in a group south of Castor found by Barnard in 1888. Though Barnard's declination is 3.6 arcmin too far north, there is no other galaxy nearby that he could have seen. And his declinations for the other four galaxies are also south of the real positions (see IC 2193), so the identity is virtually certain. See IC 2192, 2193, and 2197 for more about the group. The other two members, I2194 and I2196, were seen by both Javelle and Barnard. ===== IC 2200. Stewart noted this as "eF, eS, eE at 65[deg], bet. 2 st., susp." There are two, nearly equally-bright galaxies here; Stewart's position corresponds most closely to the northeastern of the pair. Assuming that this is the galaxy he saw on his plate, the nucleus of the southwestern of the pair would be one of the two stars in his description. This second galaxy has had the designation "IC 2200A" for some time, so it appears in the table, too. ===== IC 2206, according to Williamina Fleming's position, is CD -34 3878. However, Dave Riddle has pointed out that less than three arcmin to the northeast is a Wolf-Rayet star, WR 9 = HD 63009 = CD -34 3879. It is also an eclipsing binary with the Wolf-Rayet component being the primary. This matches Fleming's description of "Bright lines, Gas. Neb.", while SIMBAD has no notes about peculiarities of any kind for the brighter CD -34 3878. In particular, no spectrum is given and no emission features are noted. So, Dave is almost certainly right. SIMBAD also carries the IC number on the Wolf- Rayet star, so someone else has noticed Fleming's mistake, too. The details are given in two articles published by Fleming, one in AN 138, 175, 1895 (which I have not seen), the other in ApJ 1, 411, 1895. There, in addition to the description, the magnitude is given as 9.5 (again matching the brighter star), and the star is identified as "Z.C. 7h 2999". This must point to an entry in one of the Harvard "zone catalogues". I have, of course, adopted the Wolf-Rayet star as the correct object. Finally, even though Fleming's initials are given in HA 60 as "W. P.", almost all her other published articles carry a single initial "M." I was curious about this, so suggested when I first wrote this note that the initial might simply stand for "Miss" or "Mrs." However, Dave (and a few months later, Brian Skiff) found late in 2007 that Fleming's nickname was "Mina" -- a simple web search for "Mina Fleming" will bring up several references to her and her work at Harvard. ===== IC 2208. Javelle's offsets are accurate, and he made no reduction errors. However, his (and IC's) position is too large by 20 seconds of time -- the BD position of his comparison star is off by that much, perhaps because of a typo. ===== IC 2210 is a double star, pinned down by Bigourdan's single micrometric observation. See the discussion under NGC 2469 for more. ===== IC 2211 has a nuclear ring, rather patchy, but pretty clearly seen in the SDSS image. In the DSS2 images, the nearly overexposed central region appeared different enough in the various bands to pique my curiosity. The SDSS confirmed my suspicions. ===== IC 2215 is another of Bigourdan's illusory objects. There is nothing in his position, though two stars are within 30 arcsec. Perhaps these were enough to suggest the faint "cluster" to him. He used the same comparison star for this as he did for NGC 2498. His position for his "nova" is almost exactly on a line between the comparison star and the NGC galaxy. So, whatever he thought he saw, it was clearly in his view for some time. Because of this, I do not think that he misidentified his comparison star. Nor is there any trace of a cluster at the other places around the star if he had made a sign error in one or another of his offsets. So, unless there is an error that I haven't yet found in his reductions (see IC 2216 for just such an error), this object must have been an illusion (or a comet, but Bigourdan's description pretty much rules that out). ===== IC 2216 is a double star. Curiously, Bigourdan's reduced position fell nearly 2 seconds of time east of the star. I finally noticed, though, that his column headed "Delta RA/sec Dec" was, for this object, considerably different from his "Delta RA" column on the following page. Instead of dividing by the secant of I2116's declination, he seems to have divided by the secant of the declination of the next object in the list, NGC 2505 at +53 degrees. Thus, instead of the correct Delta RA of +3.84 seconds (a mean of four micrometer readings), he has +6.51 seconds in his table. Once this change is made, his RA ends up exactly on the double star, and all doubt as to the identity of I2216 vanishes. It was pretty clear in any case, as Bigourdan notes a triangle of stars 1.3 arcmin in PA = 40 degrees from his "nova" -- that triangle is just where he put it. ===== IC 2221 and IC 2222 are faint galaxies. The GSC has IC 2221 at 08 01 50.18, +37 35 36.3, just 3 arcsec south of Javelle's position. He measured I2222 on two nights -- in the mean, his position is close to GSC's: 08 01 56.99, +37 36 56.1. Again, the main difference is in declination; this time, Javelle is about 7 arcsec north. ===== IC 2222. See IC 2221. ===== IC 2223 may be IC 2224. Glen Deen has suggested that these two numbers refer to the same galaxy. They may indeed apply to the same object, but we probably won't know until Javelle's observing records can be examined. Here's why. Javelle found these on different nights (I2223: 10 Feb 1896; I2224: 28 Feb 1900), but claimed to have referred them to the same star. His positions are 4 sec of time, and 8 arcsec different -- the 4 sec is significant, the 8 arcsec is not. In addition, his descriptions of the two are different enough to make me cautious about accepting the identity outright. The galaxy is 13 arcsec southeast of Javelle's position for I2224, a bit larger error than we usually find for his observations. There is a faint star superposed just northeast of the galaxy, and it is likely that he saw the whole thing as one image. There is nothing at all in Javelle's (IC) position for I2223. It would be unusual for Javelle to have made an accidental slip of 4 seconds of time. However, he did find the two objects on two different nights, and there is certainly a blunder somewhere. So, it is indeed possible that his measurements refer to the same galaxy. ===== IC 2224 may also be IC 2223, which see. ===== IC 2225. The CGCG identification of this number with CGCG 178-026 is almost certainly correct. Javelle's position is exactly 1 minute of time out in RA, and his declination (once the proper motion of his comparison star is taken into account) is less than 9 arcsec off, well within the statistical errors in his measurements. Glen Deen suggested that the bright, wide triple star northeast of Javelle's position might be I2225. I don't think that this is correct since Javelle was using a 30-inch refractor, and almost certainly would not mistake a bright asterism for a 14th magnitude nebula. ===== IC 2227 = CGCG 178-028. There is nothing at all at Javelle's nominal position (08 04 06.4, +36 10 28; 1950.0; re-reduced using the SAO position for his nominal reference star). However, Malcolm Thomson found that if we suppose that Javelle's comparison star was actually BD +36 1746, then CGCG 178-028 is exactly at his offsets from that star. This is convincing evidence that Javelle simply misidentified his comparison star. ===== IC 2228 is the middle of 3 stars, or perhaps all three. Bigourdan's three observations point exactly to the middle one, and he correctly describes the distances and position angles of two brighter double stars which are nearby. He also gives separations and position angles for the doubles. CGCG has suggested that CGCG 031-048 is I2228. However, that galaxy is quite faint, and also has one component of one of Bigourdan's double stars superposed. Had he seen that galaxy, he would have noted the double as being involved in nebulosity. He has no such note. ===== IC 2229 = IC 496, which see. ===== IC 2231. MCG has a note that reads (translated by me), "Companion E 17m in contact with its nucleus at d = 0.1 [arcmin]." This companion is actually a superposed star. I've given a separate position for the star. Coincidentally, there is a compact elliptical just southeast of the galaxy. This appears stellar enough in the rich star field that Vorontsov-Velyaminov overlooked it, apparently mistaking it for a star. ===== IC 2232 = NGC 2543 (which see). Glen Deen suggested that I2232 might be the faint galaxy 3 arcmin south, but this consistent with neither Javelle's position (which is good), nor his description (which agrees with the Herschel's descriptions for N2543). ===== IC 2235 is a double star. This holds the distinction of being the first object in the first paper of a long series published primarily by Max Wolf and Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg with positions of nebulae found on photographic plates taken at Heidelberg. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found (the plate is apparently lost or destroyed; see IC 2262 for more on the early Heidelberg plates), but Wolf's positions on other plates have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. ===== IC 2236 is a double star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions on other plates have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. A very faint galaxy or star can be seen between the two stars, but I think that it is too faint to be seen on Wolf's plate. See IC 2262. ----- I looked at this again in February 2019 on SDSS and Pan-STARRS1 images, and found that the middle object is actually a faint star. It's probably more fair to call IC 2236 a triple star, which is what I've done. Gaia DR2 has all three stars, so my adopted position is a simple mean of the Gaia positions. ===== IC 2237 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang independently caught this one, too. I had earlier suggested that it might be a simple defect, but the star is well within Wolf's statistical errors of being at his position. My thanks to both Malcolm (via an email note) and Wolfgang (via his position list) for pointing this out. ===== IC 2238 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for a bit more. ===== IC 2240 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for more. ===== IC 2241 is a star (I called it a merged double based on its appearance on DSS1, but Brian Skiff points out that SDSS clearly shows it to be single. So do the DSS2 images.) I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2242 is a star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2243 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for more. ===== IC 2244 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for more. ===== IC 2245 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for more. ===== IC 2246 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate (which may no longer exist) on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. Malcolm and Wolfgang caught this one, too. See IC 2237 for more. The pretty wide double star that I suggested earlier is well north at 08 13 03.8, +24 00 53 (B1950). ===== IC 2247. The IC north polar distance is off by one degree, but that in Wolf's original list is correct. ===== IC 2251 is a double star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2252 is a star. I found this one using DSS. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2255 is a double star close to Wolf's position, not the galaxy suggested by Wolfgang. The southwestern star is brighter on the blue Sky Survey plates than on the red or infrared, while the northeastern star is brighter on the red and infrared plates. It makes for a nice color contrast on the SDSS image. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2257 is a double star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2258 is almost certainly the star that I've included in the table, perhaps with a plate defect mixed in. The agreement with Wolf's position is excellent. Still, there is always the possibility that it may be Wolfgang's double star -- Wolf includes the note "biN" (bi-nuclear) in his description, so we can't dismiss this idea. Still, as I've said above, and will say again below, Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt in my mind of the identity. See IC 2262 for more. ===== IC 2259 is probably the star I've included in the table. But its position is ten arcsec north of Wolf's -- is there an digit error in his position? I've not seen a print of the original plate; see IC 2262 for more about that. ===== IC 2260 is a star, perhaps with a defect involved. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2261 is probably a wide double star. Wolf's PA for his nebula (45 deg) and his offsets to a nearby bright star (4.2 seconds of time following and 10 arcsec south) are about right even though his position is 8-9 arcsec off the mean for the two stars. There could be a defect involved, of course; I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found. See IC 2262 for more on that plate. ===== IC 2262 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Of the 154 nebulae found by Max Wolf on three plates taken with the 16-inch Bruce reflector at Heidelberg early in 1901, only a few are real galaxies. I have compared a print of one of the plates (B.137; the others are apparently missing), kindly sent to Wayne Johnson by G. Klare of Heidelberg Observatory, with the POSS1 prints covering the field. The objects included in Wolf's list are marked on the plate, presumeably by Wolf himself. These leave no doubt that most of the objects are faint stars or, sometimes, multiple stars, occasionally involving plate defects. This was the first such paper published by Wolf. Later papers seem to have a somewhat smaller -- but still large -- percentage of non-nebular entries. These are discussed as needed in these notes. Most of the objects are right at the plate limit. Wolf was clearly pushing beyond certainty in his classification of these faint objects. Fortunately, his positions, once corrected for a small systematic error (they tend to be northeast of the true place by about 2-3 arcsec, at least for this first paper), are very good (mean errors around 2-3 arcsec) so that -- even in the absence of the photographs -- there is no way to misidentify the objects he saw as nebulous (aside from typographical errors in his tables, of course; IC 2350 is one such error). Very few of the objects are "Not found." Those marked on the plate that I can positively identify that are also not present on POSS1 are either photographic defects or -- in a few cases -- possible asteroid trails. Wolf's positions are quoted in the main table, along with the usual assortment of others, with the preferred position -- usually from 2MASS PSC, UCAC, or SDSS -- flagged as usual. All the stars and multiple stars are identified there, as are the "Not found's." I won't go through a big "story" for each of these objects unless one happens to be a previously known nebula that Wolf missed identifying for some reason (e.g. NGC 2643 = IC 2390; see N2643 for the short discussion); or unless I have another special reason to do so. Aside from noting the identities, and possible errors in the NGC position, there just isn't a whole lot to be said about all these stars! Curiously, Wolf also missed a few real galaxies on the plate, too -- CGCG 089-027 is one such galaxy. Its image is indeed present on the plate -- if one knows in advance that it is there -- but is of low enough surface brightness that Wolf most likely overlooked it as a random variation in plate grain. By the way, it has helped considerably to use DSS to examine Wolf's positions. There is almost always a faint object within a couple of standard deviations of Wolf's position. Even so, his descriptions make clear that there must have been plate defects -- or plate grain clumps -- involved, too. ===== IC 2263 is a star. I found this one using DSS. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2264 is a star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2265 is a star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2266 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2267 is an edgewise, late-type spiral. The blue image is dominated by a string of knots stretched out along the major axis of the galaxy. The brightest knots are at the southeastern end of the galaxy, though a very faint plume extends on along the major axis from there. The position I've chosen from the USNO-B1.0 list is more or less representative of the approximate center of the brighter, inner part of the object. Note that as of August 2014 the Skyview version of the infrared image from the second Palomar Sky Survey is badly stitched together in this field, and the galaxy is completely missing. ===== IC 2270 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2272 is a pair of stars, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's nearby star is at 08 15 11.44, +18 53 26.7 (B1950.0), though there is of course no nebula connecting the stars. There may, however, be a whisp of a plate defect there. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2273 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2274 is a triple star, verified on a print of the original plate. On DSS, this is a merged blob. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2275 is a star with a very faint galaxy attached, verified on a print of the original plate. The galaxy is not well-seen on DSS. See IC 2262. ----- There is no galaxy seen in either the SDSS or the Pan-STARRS1 images, so the object is a single star. The "attached" object mistaken for a galaxy is almost certainly a defect. ===== IC 2276 is a defect, verified on a print of the original plate. There are no objects visible in its location on the POSS1. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2277 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2278 is a defect, verified on a print of the original plate. There are no objects visible in its location on the POSS1. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2279 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2280 is a star with a superposed defect, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2281 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2282 is a galaxy (huzzah! At last!). It is closely followed, and a bit to the south by a faint star (= IC 2283, which see), then a much brighter star which was Javelle's comparison star. Reducing his position makes it clear that he did in fact see IC 2282, and not IC 2283 as Dreyer supposed. So, his number (J. 1033) and his comment "* 9 f 4.6 sec, 35 arcsec s", have to be moved to I2282. ===== IC 2283 is a star close southeast of IC 2282, which see. This is not Javelle's object; that is IC 2282. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2284 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2285 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. There are three other stars nearby that may have contributed to the image on Wolf's plate. I've measured positions for them, too. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2286 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2287 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2289 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate (see IC 2262). There is a 2 arcmin error in the IC north polar distance, but Wolf's NPD is correct. ===== IC 2291 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2292 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2294 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2295 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate (see IC 2262). That star is the northeastern of a wide double. I had thought for some time that it just might be possible that Wolf's object is the double with a plate defect involved. However, a re-examination of the print in September 2014 showed that only the northeastern star is the intended object. The southwestern star is in fact hidden beneath Wolf's arrowhead marking his suspected nebula. ===== IC 2296 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2297 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Curious about the disagreement of the 2MASS PSC position with the one I measured on the first Palomar Sky Survey, I looked at the proper motion measured by UCAC: -158.0 and -94.0 milliarcsec/year in RA and Dec, respectively. No wonder the position is different! See IC 2262 for information about Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 2298 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. The star is superposed on the eastern side of a very faint galaxy, but there is no trace of the galaxy on the print. I suspect it is not on the plate, either. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2299 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's position angle, 160 degrees, is correct. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2300 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2301 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2302 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2303 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2304 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2305 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2306 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2307 is in GSC at 08 17 49.7, +19 35 58 (B1950.0). Wolf's position is 08 17 51.1, +19 36 00; about 12 arcsec off in RA, but part of this may be systematic. Also, Wolf's position angle is "360," 18 degrees off from that measured by Glen Deen (which is correct). There is no obvious defect involved with the galaxy on the print of the original plate, but grain clumping may have been responsible for part of its appearance. ===== IC 2308 is an interacting triple galaxy, but the images are merged on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2310 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2312 is a pair of galaxies, closely flanked by two stars, all of the images pretty much aligned north to south, though the brightest star follows by just over a second of time. All of these are blended together into one image on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2313 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2314 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. The two stars are of roughly equal brightness. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2315 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2316 is probably the double star near Wolf's position, though that falls very close to the southeastern of the stars. I've verified that the object is on a print of the original plate, but the resolution is not good enough to tell if both stars are involved. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2317. Glen Deen has suggested (in correspondence) that this is a double star south of Wolf's position. This is unlikely as Wolf's position for the object is within 3 arcsec of a star. Wolf's description also supports the notion that it is a single star: "vS, F, dif, vF stell N." When an object is clearly elongated (as is NGC 2572, for example, for which Wolf notes "S, pB, l 155, dif, 2 zones, * 13 s att"), Wolf gives the position angle ("l = 155" in the case of N2572). His position and description pin down the star in this case as at least the nucleus of the "nebula" which he thought he saw. Examination of a print of the original plate, marked by Wolf, makes the identity with the star certain. The "dif[fuse]" notation is due to random grain clumping around the star. ===== IC 2318. Wolf's position falls between two stars, but is nearer the preceding of the pair, which is indeed the one marked on his original plate. See IC 2262 for more information about that original plate. ===== IC 2319 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2320 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2321 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2322 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2323 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2324 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. There is another star about 30 arcsec northwest which may be involved with the image on Wolf's plate. His description reads, "S, pF, l [PA] 155, nw, several N' -- s measured." See IC 2262. ===== IC 2325 is a defect, verified on a print of the original plate. There are no objects visible in its location on the POSS1. The "F * att f" mentioned in Wolf's description does exist, however; I've given a position for it in the table where I call it "I2325 nearby *e". See IC 2262. ===== IC 2326 includes a star, probably involved with plate defects, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf notes that it is extended east-west, and that it has "several N'". Unlike IC 2324, he does not tell us which of his small nuclei he measured. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2328 is a defect or an asteroid trail, verified on a print of the original plate. There are no objects visible in its location on the POSS1. The image is a bit elongated, and given that the ecliptic passes through the plate, this might be an asteroid trail. The nearest star is nearly an arcmin northeast. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2329 = UGC 4365 is a fairly large Sd sp with two faint stars superposed southeast of the galaxy's nucleus. Wolf's plate shows these stars as the apparent nucleus, however, and it was this that he measured. Thus, his position is about 15 arcsec off in RA. ===== IC 2330 is a defect (or, possibly, an asteroid trail) superposed on a star, verified on a print of the original plate. The brighter part of image is a bit elongated, and given that the ecliptic passes through the plate, the "defect" may be an asteroid trail. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2331 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. I had noted this as a close double star when I first went over the field many years ago -- I was wrong. It is a single star, but there is an extremely faint galaxy just to the northwest. There is no trace of it on Wolf's plate, so it has nothing to do with IC 2331. See IC 2262 for more about the plate. ===== IC 2332 is the northern of two stars, verified on a print of the original plate (see IC 2262). Wolf explicitely mentions the "F * att s", so the identification as a single object is certain. ===== IC 2333 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2334 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2335 is actually two galaxies with a star superposed, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf calls this "binuclear;" one nucleus belongs to the brighter galaxy, the other is the star. The fainter galaxy, well seen on the SDSS, is just west of the star; both are north-northeast of the brighter galaxy. See IC 2262 for more on Wolf's plate and the print of it I examined. ===== IC 2336 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. It is just northwest of IC 2337 which is often mistakenly called I2336. See IC 2262 for more about the plates Wolf examined for his first list of photographically- discovered nebulae. ===== IC 2337 is often mistakenly called "IC 2336". The smaller number refers to a star just to the northwest of I2337. Both are easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate taken with the 16-inch Bruce refractor at Heidelberg; see IC 2262 for more about the plate. ===== IC 2342 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2343 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. There is a much fainter star just a few arcsec to the east, but I doubt that it appears on Wolf's plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2344 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2345 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2346 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's comment "2d v nr sf" either refers to a defect, or should read "sp" as there is another star of about the same brightness about 15 arcsec to the southwest. See IC 2262 for more about his plate. ===== IC 2347 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2349 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2350 is not marked on the original plate at its listed position (which is copied correctly from Wolf's first list). There is a star marked at 08 21 08.1, +19 49 35 (B1950.0), however. Wolf's description mentions a "B * s". The marked star has a 13th magnitude neighbor about 10 arcsec east. Given the difference in position, and the discrepancy in magnitudes, I'm not inclined to take the marked star as IC 2350. But there is no other object in the area that fits the description, and the marked star is not otherwise listed by Wolf. However, I'm not unhappy leaving this as simply "Not found." ===== IC 2351 is a star about 25 arcsec southwest of the nucleus of NGC 2581, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2352 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2353 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2354 is a double star, with the individual images nearly merged on the DSS. I've verified it on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2355 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2356 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2357 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2358 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2359 = NGC 2582. Dreyer has included this as a "new" nebula in IC2, even though Wolf clearly and correctly marks it as "NGC 2582" in his first list. Also, Dreyer correctly calls the object "W.I.121" in IC2, so its inclusion there must be a simple oversight on Dreyer's part. ===== IC 2360 is a star, clearly marked on a print of the original plate, 3.5 arcmin north of its listed position. The error occurs in Wolf's list, and was copied into the IC by Dreyer. I do not know the source of the error, but it may result from a digit error in Wolf's measurement or reduction process -- or it may simply be a mistake. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2361. See IC 2365. ===== IC 2362 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2364 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2365 is probably IC 2366. The galaxy is actually IC 2366, not IC 2365 as it is usually called. I2366 and I2361 were measured by Javelle on the same two nights (22 Apr 1897 and 26 Feb 1900), and were referred to the same star, BD +28 1602. Their positions, as measured by him, reduce to within a couple of arcseconds of the modern positions for the galaxies. He found I2365, however, on another night, 11 Feb 1896. Supposedly referred to the same BD star, his reduced position for this object falls exactly 2.5 arcmin north of the galaxy in an empty bit of sky. My guess, before I checked the POSS1 prints, was that Javelle misidentified his comparison star on that night, and that there might be another star/galaxy pair nearby which he actually measured. Well, there isn't. I searched the POSS1 for this and found nothing within several degrees of Javelle's nominal position. So, my best guess is that IC 2365 is identical to IC 2366, but with a 2.5 arcmin measuring or reduction error. ===== IC 2366 is probably also IC 2365, which see. ===== IC 2368 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2369 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. On POSS1, there is a very faint galaxy involved with the star, but there is no trace of the galaxy on the print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2370 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2371 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2372 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2374 and IC 2376. The CGCG identifications for these two galaxies are wrong. Here's the story: Here is a table comparing Javelle's original positions with those in CGCG and GSC for the four galaxies that he (J) found in the cluster: Javelle GSC CGCG Galaxy RA (1950.0) Dec RA (1950.0) Dec RA(1950) Dec Type I2374 082516.2 +303635 (082516.9 +303635 ) 0825.2 +3037 SB(s)bc II? I2376 082520.7 +303421 082520.87 +303426.4 0825.3 +3035 E3: (SW comp) I2378 082525.9 +303549 082526.37 +303552.0 0825.4 +3036 SA0^o I2380 082538.5 +303412 082538.67 +303416.4 0825.6 +3035 Sa: I re-reduced J's positions from his offsets from his comparison star BD +30 1715 using the position from the GSC (08 26 22.38, +30 32 59.5, 1950.0) rather than the BD position which J himself used. This means that the positions in my table will not be quite the same as the NGC positions. GSC, unfortunately, does not include I2374, so the position in parentheses for it is my own, measured by offsetting from I2378 (the GSC positions are good to about an arcsec, my offset position is good to about 2-3 arcsec). Javelle, by the way, has two measurements of each of these galaxies; I used a simple mean. Examination of the table shows that J's positions so reduced are systematically offset in both RA and Dec by a few arcsec. However, they are more than good enough to unambiguously identify the CGCG galaxies. In addition, J's descriptions match what we see on the POSS, with one exception: I2374 "... near star 11.5". There is no bright star near it. Was this perhaps an asteroid? (A supernova in galaxies this distant would have been around V = 17 or fainter, so can be confidently ruled out as a possibility.) J does mention, however, the star just southeast of I2376 (this star is also in GSC). ===== IC 2376. See IC 2374. ===== IC 2378. See IC 2374. ===== IC 2380. See IC 2374. ===== IC 2381 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2386. This is a star. Bigourdan found it while examining the field of NGC 2623 on 13 March 1899. His two measurements are in agreement to within 10 arcsec, and point very closely to the star. In addition, his estimated offset to the brighter double star 3 arcmin to the north is exact, as is his position angle and separation for the double itself. ===== IC 2389 is a disturbed spiral with two nearby companions, one just northwest, the other slightly more distant to the southeast. There also appears to be star superposed just northwest of the center of the galaxy. But it is a spindle with a somewhat disturbed dust lane visible on the blue DSS2 image. In this case, the "star" appears more like the nucleus just seen over the dark lane. The two companions, by the way, appear slightly disturbed, just as does IC 2389 itself. The 2MASS images provide a clear answer with both the nucleus and the star being visible, the nucleus shining through the dark lane. So, I've adopted the 2MASS PSC positions for the two objects. ===== IC 2390 = NGC 2643, which see. ===== IC 2391. There is certainly a cluster here, and it was certainly rediscovered by Solon I. Bailey during his survey of the sky on Harvard Patrol Camera plates. However, it is still not clear, without delving into the professional literature, just which stars belong to the cluster, and which are in the field around it. Bailey made the cluster only 15 arcmin across and centered it on Omicron Velorum. Brian Skiff and AH make it 60 arcmin across and still center it on the star, though on the DSS and the IIIaJ film, this larger cluster is clearly centered about 30 seconds of time to the east and 10 arcmin to the south (I call this "IC 2391 all" in the table). I put Bailey's 15 arcmin core about 10 seconds west and 2.5 arcmin south of Omicron. For now, you have your choice. I'll do some digging someday and report here just which stars are cluster members and which are not. In the meantime, AH have a fascinating Note relating this cluster's part in an all-sky stellar association, and Glyn Jones notes that the cluster was first recorded by al-Sufi (see the entry in the "notngc" files, and NGC 2669, for a little more on that). ===== IC 2395 is another of Bailey's clusters. This one has about 15 bright stars scattered over an area of about 10 to 15 arcmin in diameter. There seems to be a cluster of fainter stars behind the bright stars (BH-47 = ESO 210-SC04), but this could simply be the faint stars of the same cluster. A color- magnitude diagram and a proper motion study would sort out the field. Bailey's position is about 30 seconds of time off, but the cluster is so obvious that it can't be missed. ===== IC 2396 is a faint star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so the identity is almost certain. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2397 is a double star, one of which is quite faint. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so the identity is almost certain. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2399 is probably a defect on Wolf's plate. However, I have not seen a print of that plate, so can not be certain about this. In particular, there is an otherwise uncatalogued galaxy just one minute of time east of Wolf's position, and about 13 arcsec south. This may be Wolf's object with a one minute error in its RA, so I mention it as a possibility. ===== IC 2408 is a star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2410 = NGC 2667. Wolf did not include the NGC identity in his list, and the position is far enough off that Dreyer did not catch it either. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262, and IC 2411 as well. ===== IC 2411. Steve Gottlieb points out that this galaxy was actually seen by both Ralph Copeland and Dreyer himself with LdR's 72-inch telescope. Copeland dug out NGC 2667 on 26 December 1873 and noted, "cF, pS, lE pf; was thought to have an eF companion about 2' nf." Dreyer followed this up on 21 Feb 1876, saying, "eF; I think it is only a * 16 m +- nf." The object is of course a galaxy which Max Wolf later picked up on one of the first plates taken at Heidelberg that he examined for new nebulae. Had Dreyer been observing on a somewhat better night, or (perhaps) with a freshly-polished mirror, the fainter galaxy might also have received an NGC number. ===== IC 2412 is a star. Wolf notes a "* 14 np"; the star is there, so even though I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, I'm confident of the identity. See IC 2262 for information on a print of one of Wolf's plates that I have seen. ===== IC 2413 is a double star. Wolf's position is about 10 arcsec to the southeast, so there may well be a defect involved with the double on his plate. I've not seen that plate, so this identification is not as secure as many others in his first list. ===== IC 2415 is a star. It has a faint companion star near to the south-southeast that may have added some to the nebular appearance on Wolf's plate. I've not seen the plate, nor a print of it, but Wolf's position is close to the star, so I'm fairly confident of the identification. ===== IC 2416 is a star. Curiously, GSC has classified this a "non-stellar" object, though it is clearly a star on both red and blue POSS1 prints. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2417 is a star. Since it is about 5-6 arcsec to the west of Wolf's position, I speculated earlier that Wolf's object might be the galaxy which is about 10 arcmin to the north. But the offset is not exactly 10 arcmin as we would expect if Wolf's position were a typo. So it is most likely that his object is the much nearer star. Unfortunately, I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but because Wolf's positions have proved to be very good overall, I'm pretty confident in the identity. ===== IC 2419 is a double star. I have not seen a print of the original plate on which this was found, but Wolf's positions have proved to be very good, so there is little doubt of the identity. See IC 2262. ===== IC 2424 = NGC 2704, which see. ===== IC 2425 is a star about 5 arcmin southwest of NGC 2708. Bigourdan has only one observation of it and he was not very certain about the object. His description reads, "Mag. 13.5 object, sporadically seen, which could be nebulous; but I cannot pronounce on it with certainty." His position is 11 arcsec west of the star -- I wonder if he also vaguely saw the two stars on further west (the 1950 positions are 08 53 16.35, -03 13 49.0 and 08 53 16.44, -03 14 04.8). If so, these might have thrown his measurement off a bit. ===== IC 2431 = Markarian 1224 = UGC 4756 is a peculiar, interacting, quadruple system. The SDSS image rather confounds this "classic" interpretation from the Sky Survey plates, at least concerning the "quadruple" nature. I wonder, too, whether the two bright, compact, stellar objects seen superposed on the galaxies might not be stars. Given the low density of stars in the relatively high Galactic latitude field, I rather doubt that, but I've not been able to track down enough details on the spectra yeilding redshifts to know for sure. In any event, I've given positions, from GSC3 and 2MASS PSC based on the four "classical" components of the system. ===== IC 2436 is a double star at Stewart's position about 6 arcmin northwest of IC 2437 which he also found on the same plate. Though he marked both "susp", both do in fact exist -- he simply did not have another plate on which he could confirm them. I examined this field while putting together SEGC. When I did that, I somehow thought that this object was a triple star, so that is how it appeared in the position file for some time. Looking at it again in a DSS image, I see that it is indeed a double star, so I have reclassified it. The position is the same either way. ===== IC 2437. See IC 2436. ===== IC 2438 is an asterism of six stars found by Bigourdan in February 1894, and dug out again by him nine years later. It is remarkable among his "novae" in that the position comes only from a setting circle reading. I have not seen this before in his lists. There is another minor mystery here, too. The position he published in CR in 1896 (copied correctly into the IC) is different than that published later in his big tables. Since the CR position (RA = 08 59 28, NPD = 16 00) is for 1860, and his later position (RA = 09 04 25, Dec = +73 51) for 1900, perhaps he made a mistake in precessing it back to 1860. Whatever happened, the asterism is unmistakeably clear on the sky, with the actual position being about an arcminute south of his two published ones. There is, by the way, a seventh star about an arcminute south of the six that Bigourdan noted; I apparently included that in my earlier position (HCos). My later position (from DSS) is for the six stars that Bigourdan included in his description: "Small cluster formed of 5-6 stars of magnitude 12.8 and fainter, within a circle of about 1.5 arcmin in diameter." ===== IC 2440 is a star. Bigourdan's position is very good (within about four arcsec), even though he makes us work hard for it. His first observation, from 3 Feb 1894, has only a position angle given, so he is unable to work out the RA and Dec offsets (he has no note explaining the missing distance; did the weather turn bad?). He gives only a position for his comparison star without noting its source. That's OK, since we can't use it, anyway. His description, by the way, reads "Almost completely stellar object, which however is a little less sharp than stars of the same magnitude." On 28 Feb 1903, he actually has a complete measurement, position angle and distance, from which he calculated the offsets. However, he does not give a position for his comparison star aside from its offsets, in the description column, from a BD star. Working through these offsets, it turns out to be the same star he used in 1894. And on this night, his description takes on a bit of a querelous tone: "A star of magnitude 13.3 around which I cannot, with any certainty, see nebulosity." And, after all of that, his "nova" is a star. (Wolfgang, in his first list, chose the wrong one.) ===== IC 2446 probably also carries the number IC 2447, which see. ===== IC 2447 is probably Javelle's third observation of IC 2446 with some mistake in the declination. He has two observations of I2446 (on 8 April 1896 and 26 March 1900) which clearly point to the galaxy. His RA from those two nights is identical to that for I2447, which he observed on only one other night, 8 Jan 1900. He claims to have used the same star for comparison. (I checked the obvious mistakes he could have made: sign errors and incorrectly identified comparison star -- nothing in the area matches.) The difference in declination is 12 arcmin 38.2 arcsec. Perhaps this points to a reading or reduction error, but I do not now know what it might be. I have in mind a unit multiple of his eyepiece scale, or of his micrometer dial's rotation -- something like that. Perhaps we can find the answer in other papers in the Nice Observatory's Publications. ===== IC 2449. Javelle has the wrong sign on his RA offset. When it is changed to "-", his position falls exactly on the galaxy we call "NGC 2783B". For those who don't like the NGC suffixed names, we also know it as UGC 4856, Hickson 037b, CGCG 151-026, and MCG +05-22-017. The obvious clue here is Javelle's footnote, "I [also] measured NGC 2783." ===== IC 2450. Here is another wrong sign on one of Javelle's RA's. Once it is corrected, his position lands right on UGC 4902 = Markarian 1230. ===== IC 2455 probably = NGC 2804. This is one of two objects that Javelle found in the NGC 2809 group on 9 April 1896 (the other is IC 2457 for which there is no problem of identity). There is nothing at Javelle's offset (+0 min 45.60 sec, +2 min 36.7 sec) from his comparison star (BD +20 2293 = SAO 080729). There is a faint star about 30 arcsec southeast, but this is well outside of Javelle's mean error circle (about 8-10 arcsec). However, NGC 2804 is exactly 5 arcmin north of Javelle's position. If we assume that his offset should read +7 min 36.7 sec, then his position falls within five arcseconds of NGC 2804. Furthermore, Javelle's description ("F, nearly R, gBM, r; N = 13-13.5") fits N2804 quite well. On the other hand, Javelle, in a footnote to his observation of I2457, says that he also saw NGC 2804, 2806, 2807, and 2809. This would argue against the I2455 = N2804 hypothesis. However, there are a few other cases of similar footnotes in his lists where the identity with the NGC object is solid. This is probably one of those cases. ===== IC 2456. Here is an interesting case where Javelle may have used two comparison stars, almost certainly by mistake, for measuring one galaxy. The brighter star is his nominal one, BD +35 1972, but there is a companion star of almost the same brightness about 8.5 seconds preceding and 1' 20" south. He would also have had to make another mistake in the sign of his declination offset, but bear with me for another paragraph. If Javelle used the BD star for his declination measurement (and made the sign error), and the companion star for his RA measurement, then his reduced position falls within five arcsec of NPM1G +34.0149. The galaxy is bright enough that he could have seen it, and he did sweep over the area on the night in question (25 April 1903; see IC 2459), so I'm listing the Lick galaxy as a possible match given the near-coincidence of the positions -- after assuming these two errors. His description is not a very good match, though: "F" and "S" are all right, but "dif" and "r" are not. Still, I've seen this kind of thing on other of his galaxies, so these two mismatches are not the deal-killers that they first appear. Also, Javelle has many other mistakes in his published observations in this part of his table (see e.g. IC 2447, IC 2449, IC 2450, IC 2455), so I am not surprised that this object, too, might have mistakes. All in all, this makes at least a half-baked case for the galaxy. ===== IC 2457. See IC 2455. ===== IC 2458. Steve Gottlieb ask us to review the northern field which this object -- usually assigned to Markarian 108, and often also called NGC 2820A -- shares with NGC 2814 and NGC 2820. Wolfgang Steinicke found that IC 2458 is the northeastern part of NGC 2820. Bigourdan has four observations of this on the same night on which he observed NGC 2820 (also four times). Not only do his measures point to a knot in the northeastern end of the galaxy, he says, "It was not possible to separate this from NGC 2820, from which is is distinguished with considerable difficulty." So, the little galaxy, Markarian 108, just off the southwestern end of the big NGC galaxy, is clearly not the object that Bigourdan picked up in his 12-inch refractor. Wolfgang also found some intriguing evidence in JH's observations that bears on the identifications of NGC 2742, 2814, 2816, and 2820. See them for more information. ===== IC 2459. Javelle says that this object is right at the limit of visibility in his 30-inch refractor. The galaxy is indeed very faint (around 17th magnitude), but his measured position falls within 4-5 arcsec of the nucleus, and his description is accurate. We'll take it. ===== IC 2460 = NGC 2827 (which see for more about the N2832 group in Abell 779). Though claimed "not found" by Carlson, this galaxy is just 1.5 arcmin north of the IC place -- the BD declination of Javelle's comparison star (BD +34 1976) is a bit off. Re-reducing J's observation puts the position within 10 arcsec of the nucleus. The only puzzle is J's note "... allongee suivant le mouvement diurne ...." This clearly makes the object flattened in declination, while the true position angle is close to zero. Did Javelle simply get confused, or did he make some other error and really observe another galaxy in the cluster? ===== IC 2465. Somehow, LEDA has made a 2 degree error in the position of this galaxy. The right galaxy is just where the IC -- and Javelle -- puts it, but LEDA has picked up an object 2 degrees south. They are wrong, of course. ===== IC 2466 is just as Dreyer boiled down Javelle's description of it: "vF, vS, dif, * 13.5 att". We could argue about the "diffuse", but with the star very close to the south, the galaxy probably would look diffuse. In any event, the nature of the galaxy is not clear on the POSS1, but comes through in the POSS2 and 2MASS images. Neither object is double as I thought they might be from POSS1 and DSS. ===== IC 2469 is one of the largest and brightest galaxies that Swift found. I'm surprised that neither JH nor Shapley-Ames picked it up. In any event, Swift found it in December of 1897 near the end of his observing career. Unfortunately, his RA is 37 seconds too small (in the AJ version of his sixth list, he has the declination as "-22" instead of the correct "-32" which appears in PA, MNRAS, and AN). The identity with the IC number is, however, clinched by Swift's note of the superposed star just to the southwest of the central bulge. Unfortunately, too, it is in one of the low Galactic latitude fields that were skipped by ESO-LV, so its optical parameters remain poorly known. ===== IC 2470. Javelle's calculations are correct, and the data on page D42 of Volume XI of the Nice Annals are also correct in every detail. However, the declination on page D18 is out by exactly 20 degrees. While we can't prove that this is a typo without reference to Javelle's original papers, it seems likely that it is a simple replacement by the typesetter of a "6" by an "8" on page D18. Once that change is made, the correct galaxy falls right into our tables. ===== IC 2477 is probably identical to IC 2480. Javelle's nominal RA, from one observation on 1 May 1896, is 18 seconds less than that of the galaxy. His declination and description are just right and match those of IC 2480. Javelle has obviously made some error in his measurement or reduction of his RA. At least that's the hypothesis. There is no other candidate in the area, and I've marked the identity with a colon. That for IC 2480 is certain as Javelle has observations on two different nights, 14 Apr 1896 and 10 Jan 1900. The observation for I2477 comes from a third night, so this adds to the probability of the identity. ===== IC 2484 is lost. Swift calls this "pB, S, R; 7 m * nf, D * p". The description is identical in the three different journals where it was published. It was the only nebula he found the night of 22 Jan 1898. During my SGC work, I noted that this may be a triple star. Now (Dec 2002), however, I cannot find a triple near the nominal place that might have caught my eye twenty years ago. I've also searched the southern sky survey films near the obvious places where the object might be: 10 minutes east and west, an hour east and west, and north along Swift's nominal RA. Since this is one of the southern-most of the nebulae that Swift claims to have seen, I've only checked southwards on the sky survey plate carrying the nominal position. Perhaps there is a double error in his position: 10 minutes in RA and 10 degrees in Dec, for example. I'll leave these possibilities for others to explore. ===== IC 2485 is probably a defect on Stewart's plate. He describes it as "eF, vS, R, like several sts inv in neb, susp." There is nothing at his position that matches this description unless the defect appears around one of the several asterisms of double or triple stars in the area. In my SGC workbook, I noted "No neb, but cl?" The cluster, however, is large, at least 15 arcmin by 10 arcmin, and is composed of stars that are fairly bright (10th to 12th magnitude). This is clearly not Stewart's object. Once again, an examination of the original Harvard plate (4240) is called for. This is a one-hour plate; the only other object that Stewart found on it is IC 2492, which see for a story of its own. ===== IC 2488 = Lacialle III-4. See the entries in the "notngc" files for the short story on this. Briefly, JH did not see the cluster, so it is included in neither GC nor NGC. It was not seen again until Solon Bailey included it in his 1902 Harvard list of bright non-stellar objects. ===== IC 2489 is lost; there is nothing at Barnard's position. This is another of his unpublished objects, appearing only in IC2, so we have just the IC position (given in the big position table) and the description ("pF, R") to go on. I see only two possibilities on the POSS1: MCG -01-25-002 and MCG -01-25-034. The second galaxy matches the meager description better, but it is 12m 24s east of Barnard's position -- this seems a bit of a long shot to me. The first galaxy does somewhat better at only 1 minute 35 seconds east and 9.6 arcmin north (perhaps within observational error of being 1 min 30 sec and 10 arcmin). However, it is clearly elongated and has several stars nearby, as well as a couple of other fainter galaxies. While the position is off by nearly the sort of "integer" numbers I like, the description doesn't fit well. So, I've put neither into the table. I've also looked at 0.5x0.5 DSSR2 fields at 1-degree, 2-degrees, 3-degrees, etc up to 10-degrees different from Barnard's declination; and 10-, 20-, and 30-time-minute, and 1-hour differences from his RA. There are galaxies in many of these fields that Barnard could have seen, but additional errors (not just digit errors) in the positions would be required. It's possible, of course, that a combination of digit errors in both RA and Dec would turn up candidates, but I haven't tried any of those fields yet. So, another, still lost nebula. ===== IC 2492, like IC 2485 (which see; it is the only other object that Stewart found on one-hour Arequipa Bruce plate 4240) may be a defect. Stewart's description reads, "cF, vS, R, B * 1' np, susp." In this case, however, there is a faint galaxy about 2.5 arcmin northeast of Stewart's nominal position. This is usually taken as IC 2492 even though it is obviously elongated, not round as Stewart describes his object. But Stewart's "bright" star is not where he claims it to be. There is a relatively faint star about an arcmin northeast of the galaxy, but I do not think that this is Stewart's star. It seems more likely to me that either Stewart made an error in measuring the object's position, or that both it and the "star" are defects. So, I'm clearly not convinced that the galaxy is the one that Stewart saw. And I'd just as clearly like to see the Harvard plate. In the meantime, I'm leaving a question mark on the IC number. ===== IC 2494 = NGC 2947 = IC 547 is the only object to have entries in all three of Dreyer's catalogues -- at least that I know about in May of 2003. See IC 547 for the (short) stories. ===== IC 2499. The galaxy has a faint star just southeast that could well have been involved in the image that Javelle examined. His measured position bears out this idea, so I've included it as a part of the IC object. ===== IC 2502 and IC 2503. In my previous note on these two, I said that they are lost, and went on to consider various objects near Javelle's nominal positions. The objects actually are NOT lost; Malcolm Thomson has recovered them by correcting the identification of Javelle's comparison star. Javelle claims it is "BD +33 2042" with a magnitude of "6.5" at "09 34 16.1, 56 17.3" (1860.0 with north polar distance rather than declination). That BD star is actually at 10 42 33.2, +33 40.0 (1855) and has a magnitude of 9.5, in near complete disagreement with Javelle's printed data. Malcolm notes that the star is actually BD +35 2042 at 09 33 58.2, +35 44.0 (1855). This precesses to 09 34 16.2, 56 17 21 (1860; again, with NPD), in agreement with Javelle's data, if the degrees of declination is changed to "+33". And that star at +35 degrees does have a BD magnitude of 6.5, just as Javelle notes. Once that 2-degree error is corrected, the two galaxies are easily found, though the northern one -- the fainter of the pair -- is west of Javelle's position by about two seconds of time. ===== IC 2503. See IC 2502. ===== IC 2504 is probably another Harvard plate defect. There is no trace of any nebula in the area matching Stewart's description: "eF, vS, eE at 170 deg, lbM, susp." The "susp[ected]" means that Stewart found it on only one plate, in this case Plate 5049, a three-hour exposure taken in March of 1901. Stewart's table with the plate data claims that only one "nebula" was found on the plate. This is probably it. ===== IC 2507 is a nearby Magellanic irregular galaxy with a patchy structure and no sign of a nucleus. The position, from GSCA, is appropriate for the entire galaxy. There are many knots -- and perhaps some superposed stars -- scattered across its face. ===== IC 2509 is probably the faint star I've listed in the table. Though I overlooked this years ago when I first went over this field, I now have Bigourdan's observations at hand. His place (-11 seconds, -30 arcsec from an unnamed star of magnitude 11.5) is an estimate on a single night. Like many other of his faint "novae", he describes is simply as a "Trace of extremely faint nebulosity, pretty surely existing; it needs a more powerful telescope." This may be the same star that Carlson lists in her 1940 paper. But with no position listed there, we don't know for sure. ===== IC 2511 = IC 2512. This is the western of a pair of galaxies found twice by Swift (the eastern is IC 2513 = IC 2514, which see), and included as separate objects in his 11th list of new nebulae. Stewart searched a 1-hour Bruce plate and could only find two of Swift's objects; he has a note to that effect at the end of his table. Various typos in Swift's tables apparently confused Dreyer. The IC has 2512 as the "south-following" of two, while Swift has it as the "north-following". It is actually the north-preceding as both got right for 2511. The identity of the galaxy is assured by Swift's notes about neighboring stars one of 7th magnitude, a couple of arcminutes northwest. ===== IC 2512 = IC 2511, which see. ===== IC 2513 = IC 2514. This is the eastern of a pair of galaxies, though Swift called I2513 the "south-preceding" of two, a mistake copied by Dreyer into the IC. Swift got the direction right in his entry for I2514 ("south-following"), but Dreyer again missed with "north-following." As with the western of the pair (IC 2511 = IC 2512, which see), the identities are clinched by Swift's notes about the stars near to the east. ===== IC 2514 = IC 2513, which see. ===== IC 2528 = NGC 3084. Swift's RA is 50 seconds off, but his note about an "eF D* s" matches the NGC object if the double star is the one about an arcmin to the southeast. There is, in any event, no other obvious candidate, though I have not checked at the positions implied by digit errors. This might be a reasonable thing to do as there is a star superposed on the galaxy that is about as bright as the double. Why didn't Swift mention this star as well? Swift does mention that NGC 3078 is in the field; it is in fact less than 15 arcmin away, so it would indeed have been in Swift's field of view with N3084 centered. Carlson labels the star close to Swift's position as the IC object, but there is no double to the south, and N3078 would be out of the field if this had been Swift's object. ===== IC 2529 is NGC 3081. Swift's position is just an arcminute to the south, but there is no obvious "eF * in contact" with the galaxy. I wonder if Swift has made a transcription error here. For example, there is an "eF * in contact" with IC 2528 = NGC 3084 (which see), the immediately preceding object in his eleventh list. ===== IC 2543 is one of Javelle's discoveries. He notes it as being mottled, so it is possible that he glimpsed the fainter northern companion. In addition, his position is closer to that northern galaxy. So, I've taken the two as the IC object rather than just one or the other. ===== IC 2545 may be the very faint double star at Stewart's position. It matches his description exactly: "eF, eS, cE 25 deg, triangle with 2 F stars." But I'm astonished that he could see such a faint, tiny object, even on a 4-hour exposure (plate 4342). So, I've put a colon on it in the position table (I previously had a question mark, but the suitabilility of Stewart's description is seductive). Andris Lauberts and Wolfgang Steinicke also had trouble believing that the double is the one Stewart found. They both picked a much brighter object 30 seconds preceding and 2 arcmin south of Stewart's nominal position. This, however, does not match Stewart's description at all, particularly with respect to the two stars. However, I'm including it in the table because it is bright enough for Stewart to have picked up easily. This is also obviously a candidate for examination on the original plate. Another note: When I first examined IC 2545, I mistook the double star for a faint galaxy on the IIIa-J plate. However, closer examination of the object on the 2MASS images shows that it is indeed a double star. ===== IC 2555 = NGC 3157. The IC position, from an Arequipa Bruce plate examined by Delisle Stewart, is good. But the NGC position is 30 arcmin off. Curiously, JH's original position in his CGH Observations is correct. It turns out that in precessing and transcribing the position to the GC, either JH or one of his assistants made a 30 arcmin error in the declination. Dreyer faithfully copied the mistake into the NGC. One other curiousity exists with JH's records of this galaxy. He has only a single observation from sweep 535 on 28 Jan 1835. He looked for it a second night (sweep 678 on 16 Feb 1836), but has no position recorded and the odd note, "Looked for but not found by this. However, no RA is noted, perhaps it was looked for too late. The obs of S[weep] 535 is positive, and correctly reduced." This tells us that JH hoped to make a second observation of the object, but somehow missed it. In any event, his problem was apparently in RA, not Dec as later crept into the GC and NGC. ===== IC 2571 = NGC 3223. Both NGC and IC carry positions that are unmistakeably close to the galaxy, with the IC position (from a micrometric measurement by Herbert Howe) being essentially spot on. Dreyer simply missed the identity. Here is how I think he did it. Swift published the object as new in his 11th list in AN, though it appeared a few months earlier in his 6th list (from Lowe Observatory) in Astronomical Journal, Popular Astronomy, and Monthly Notices. His position is far enough off NGC 3223 that Dreyer apparently agreed that it was a "nova", and put it into his working list (I assume he had one) for IC2 as such. Then, Howe's observation was published in MN, and Dreyer corrected his working list without checking the NGC again. So, the galaxy has an IC number as well as one in the NGC. ===== IC 2574 ("Coddington's Nebula") is a large, low-surface-brightness, late-type spiral galaxy in the M 81 group. The position I've chosen is appropriate for the brightest spot in the galaxy's faint bulge. Note that this is eccentric with respect to the outer isophotes of the galaxy, so that other positions using those isophotes will be different. ===== IC 2585 = NGC 3271, which see. ===== IC 2592 = NGC 3366, which see. ===== IC 2593. See NGC 3297. ===== IC 2595 is probably lost. There is nothing in Swift's position nor at any reasonable digit offsets that I've so far checked. There is the possiblility, however, of the object being 10 or 20 degrees south of Swift's nominal declination. He found five objects on the night of 22 February 1898. The three that are identifiable (IC 2135 = IC 2136, which see for a story of its own; NGC 5494; and IC 4453) are all between -27 degrees and -37 degrees. It's probably a coincidence that this object and the other (IC 2962) that are not at their nominal positions are both 20 degrees further north. But while the coincidence suggested a search strategy, it did not yeild the missing objects -- I did not find them at either 10 or 20 degrees south of their nominal positions. Perhaps there is an error in the RA by an hour one way or another. This still needs to be checked. Finally, there are no significant systematic offsets in Swift's positions for the three galaxies that we can identify. His positions are just bad, ranging from 24 seconds east to 15 seconds west, and 7.0 arcmin north to 2.5 arcmin south from the true positions. ===== IC 2599 is part of the emission nebula NGC 3324. But just which part has not been quite clear. (Wolfgang caught this independently, and urged me to write this note.) Dreyer, in the second IC, credits Pickering (in HA 26, 1897) with the discovery of a second nebula here (JH found the first, NGC 3324, on 1 April 1834, in his seventh sweep after he set up his telescope at Feldhausen in the Cape of Good Hope). But Bailey also includes the second nebula in his 1908 HA 60 list of bright and large nebulae and clusters. Since Dreyer includes other of Bailey's objects in the second IC, it makes sense to at least let Bailey share the credit for this nebula as well. However, Pickering and Bailey describe it differently. Pickering says The position of NGC 3324 is nearly that of AGC 14528 ["AGC" is Benjamin Gould's Argentine General Catalogue of 1885; the star, HD 92207, is at 10 37 27.5, -58 43 59 (J2000, precessed from the AGC)]. The [new] nebula a little above it ... around AGC 14525 [= HD 92206A at 10 37 22.4, -58 37 22 (also J2000)], has not received a separate number in Dreyer's [New General] Catalogue. So, Pickering places IC 2599 north of NGC 3324. Bailey, however, has this to say There appear to be two nebulae near the position of NGC 3324, one around the triple star AGC 14524 [= CD -57 3378 at 10 37 18.6, -58 37 36], [1452]5, and [1452]6 [= HD 92206B at 10 37 23.2, -58 37 23], and the other near AGC 14528. The former is probably the object seen by [JH], since he refers to a double star; but since he only gives one nebula, he may have included both objects as one, especially since they are really joined by nebulosity. In the present catalogue, they are given as separate objects, and the nebulosity near the star AGC 14528, magnitude 5.57, is entered without a number. Both of these nebulae appear to be merely condensations of the faint extension of the Great Nebula [eta Carinae]. So, Pickering makes the northern object I2599, while Bailey makes it the southern object. So, which is it? JH's position for N3324 is 10 37 23, -58 37.4 (again J2000), virtually identical with the AGC positions for HD 92206 which must be the double star he noted as involved in the nebula. He goes on to say, "[The nebula] extends to a * 6.7 m half a field distant southwards, and almost as far north ..." The "* 6.7" is AGC 14258, so Pickering is incorrect in saying that N3324's position is "nearly that" of that star. Unfortunately, Bailey's positions for the two objects are too far north by about 7-8 arcminutes. He does, however, have the correct offset between them. Another confusion comes from Dreyer's note in IC2 "correcting" the position of N3324 based on Pickering's comment that "the new nebula is a little above [i.e. north] it [JH's star 6.7 mag]. This effectively swaps the positions of the two nebulae. But we know this can't be right since JH specifically mentions the double star, and the southern star is not double. So, since Bailey's description is clear and correct, and his supposition about JH's observation is also correct, I am going to accept his identification of the southern lobe as the correct identification for IC 2599. In any case, it's clear that JH saw all of the nebulae that Pickering and Bailey found on their plates, not just one or another of its lobes. The two parts of it show clearly on the original DSS V-plate, and must reflect the appearance in JH's telescope pretty well. ESO has made the two numbers identical. I suppose this is strictly true, but the Harvard observers made the distinction between the two, so we should do the same -- noting, however, that the IC object is, in fact, simply the southern part of the NGC object, all of which JH saw and described. Finally, I thank Brian Skiff for digging out the AGC positions for me. He has also contributed a few words about the astrophysics of the nebula: I would consider the pair AGC 14525/6 to be the principal illuminating (fluorescing) stars of NGC 3324, and thus as good a "center" as any for the nebula. ... [Here are] spectral types 14524 = LS 1695 O8V + O9.7V ["LS" = Luminous Star; see Stephenson and Sanduleak, Publ. Warner & Swasey Obs. 1, Part 1, page 1, 1971, "Luminous Stars in the Southern Milky Way."] 14525 = HD 92206 A O6V((f)) 14526 = HD 92206 B O6V((f)) 14528 = HD 92207 A0Ia ...the last star could be related to the star-forming region, but is too cool to fluoresce the nebula. So it sounds as though IC 2599 is simply the southern part of NGC 3324 that is near the bright A-type supergiant. This is another argument for considering IC 2599 to be simply the southern part of NGC 3324. ===== IC 2602 = Lacaille II-9. This is one of 13 clusters not in the NGC or 1st IC listed by Bailey in his 1908 all-sky catalogue of bright and large nebulae and clusters. This particular cluster is very large -- about a degree across -- with several naked-eye stars, including theta Carinae. Theta itself is just southwest of the apparent center of the cluster. This is one of the nearest Galactic open clusters at about 155 parsecs. Whiteoak (MNRAS 123, 245, 1961) has the photometry of bright cluster members down to about magnitude 8.5, while Randich et al (A&A 323, 86, 1997 and A&A 372, 862, 2001) have photometry and spectroscopy of fainter cluster member candidates as well as references to earlier studies. A bit more about this cluster is in the "notngc" files. Also see IC 4651 for more on Bailey's 1908 catalogue. ===== IC 2603 does not exist. Though Bigourdan has two micrometric measures of it on the night of 27 March 1887, as well as a plausible description, he failed to find it again on nights in 1899 and 1907. His note reads (translated by me from the original French), Diffuse nebulosity, elongated at 98.9 deg (measured PA = 97.42 deg, 1 pointing), about 1.4 arcmin long by 40 arcsec wide. It could be formed by 2 nebulae nearly in contact; the following one is a little brighter and more extended. [His italics:] Could be a false image. His final sentence, with his own italics added for emphasis, says it all. My suggestion that this could be a star 47 arcsec from the IC position (from many years ago when I was young and naive) is wrong. Since that more innocent age, I've discovered Bigourdan's massive set of observations, and have learned how to use them. It's clear that IC 2603 really is non-existent. It's still not clear, however, just what these "fausses images" of Bigourdan's actually were. I suspect some sort of internal reflection in his telescope -- the 30-cm refractor at Observatoire de Paris -- but that is just a guess. IC 2610 is another such object; see that for similar speculation. ===== IC 2605 is probably the southwestern arm of NGC 3395. Bigourdan saw it only once on 11 April 1899, commenting, "Nebulous rounded object, about 20 arcsec across, it would be nearly impossible to make measurements." Indeed he did not, leaving us an estimated offset -- 0.5 seconds of time west, and 17 arcseconds south -- from the nucleus of NGC 3395 itself. In March of 1907, he could not find it again, simply saying, "Not seen." The line of three knots in the southwestern arm that I had identified earlier as IC 2605 is NOT the "object" that Bigourdan saw. His is the brighter arm closer in to the center of the galaxy, and that is the one that I've finally given a position for in the table. ===== IC 2609 = NGC 3404, which see. ===== IC 2610 was a "fausse image" in Bigourdan's eyepiece. There is nothing on the sky at his place matching his description. He also adds the note, in italics, "Could be a false image." I do not know what causes these things (internal reflections in his refractor, perhaps?), but they pop up occasionally in his observations. Bigourdan also notes that his measurement of the "nebula" was somewhat disturbed by a 13th magnitude star 25 arcsec away in PA = 270 deg. That star is indeed there -- but his "diffuse nebula, round, about 30 arcsec in diameter, little brighter in the middle with no nucleus" is not. Finally, a faint galaxy close southeast of a much brighter star -- the pair is about 1.5 arcmin southwest of Bigourdan's position -- is sometimes called IC 2610. Bigourdan's measurement makes clear that this cannot be true. ===== IC 2611 may be a star. Bigourdan's measured place for it, from just one setting of his micrometer, is 30 arcsec south of the actual position. Did he make a measurement or reduction error somewhere along the line? Or is this perhaps another of his "fausse images"? See IC 2603 and IC 2610 for more on these illusory "nebulae" that sometimes appear in Bigourdan's lists. Dorothy Carlson was the first to suggest the identity with the star in her 1940 paper of NGC and IC corrections from Mt. Wilson. A curious footnote: Immediately following Bigourdan's single measurement of this star is another object called "Nova?" in his table. It has an estimated position of +5.8 seconds, -1 arcmin 25 arcsec from the same comparison star (BD +10 2241) that Bigourdan used for the IC object. This "nova?" does not appear in either the NGC or IC. This is a good thing as nothing exists in the place where Bigourdan suspected it. His description is "Object only glimpsed" and his position, reduced and precessed to J2000.0, is 10 52 44.3, +10 07 47. ===== IC 2613 = NGC 3395. Javelle got the sign on his RA offset from his comparison star wrong -- replace his "+" by a "-". When that change is made, his reduced position falls right on NGC 3395. His description is appropriate, too. This brings up the question of why Javelle did not mention NGC 3396 in a footnote. In fact, he did -- but the footnote is to IC 2604. So, why did he not also mention NGC 3395 in the same footnote? He obviously got confused somehow -- the incorrect sign attests to that. CGCG has this IC number noted as being identically equal to NGC 3430. This, of course, is wrong. It would require Javelle to have made a 2 minute, 5 second error in his RA, and a 1.8 arcmin error in Dec -- the flipped RA sign is a much easier error to make. ===== IC 2618 is a double star. In spite of Bigourdan's doubts about this object, his estimated position (he did not measure it) is good. His description reads only, "Slightly nebulous object; it will take a more powerful instrument to decide if it is really a nebula." That "more powerful instrument" turned out to be the 48-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory. ===== IC 2622 = NGC 3508 (which see), and probably also = NGC 3505 (also which see). Swift's position is not very good, but his note "like a double star" is exactly right -- there is a star superposed just northeast. ----- The identity with NGC 3505 is now (July 2016) sure; I've looked at JH's sweep, and have re-reduced his observation. In that observation, he also notes the "* 14 v near". ===== IC 2623. Is this also NGC 3565 and/or NGC 3566? See the discussion under NGC 3565. The IC identification is not in doubt, but the NGC identifications are. ===== IC 2624 = NGC 3497 (which see) = NGC 3525 = NGC 3528. ===== IC 2625 = NGC 3529. See NGC 3497. ===== IC 2630 is a star, confirmed on a print of the original plate. All of Wolf's marks have been removed from this plate from which his seventh list of new nebulae was compiled, so I've centered up his position in a DSS field, then checked the print against the DSS. That points unmistakeably at the star. By the way, I use the word "confirmed" with this plate rather than "verified" as I have with his other plates which still bear his marks pointing at the "nebulae" he found. This is simply to indicate that the marks are indeed missing. Steve Gottlieb has pulled accurate positions out of the USNO-A1.0 star catalogue for these seventh list objects, where they exist, of course. These are usually good enough to accurately pin down the object that Wolf noted. Once in a while, however, the stars with "significant" proper motion -- something like 50 milliarcseconds per year or larger -- can now be well off Wolf's positions when they are simply precessed from equinox 1875 to 2000. I've often indicated these stars in the notes, but since Wolf's positions have standard deviations on the order of 4-5 arcseconds, even "large" proper motions are sometimes lost in the errors. I've also noticed that parts of the print are subtly out of focus. As it is a contact print, I suspect that it was not tightly pressed against the original plate when it was made. There is, of course, some coma as well in the images far from the plate center, but Wolf must have recognized this as he searched for new nebulae only in the central six degrees of the eight- by seven-degree field captured on the 30- by 23.5-cm plate. ===== IC 2631 is a reflection nebula. The position I've adopted is for the embedded star, HD 97300. The nebulosity is at least 30 arcmin across, with several large absorption patches involved. The brightest part, seen on the red and near-infrared images, forms an arc just east of the star. ===== IC 2635 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2641 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2642 is also a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Note, too, that the IC north polar distance is two degrees too large; Wolf's declination is correct to within his usual error. ===== IC 2643 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2647 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2653 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Though I looked at this many years ago when I put Steve Gottlieb's positions from USNO-A1.0 in, I forgot to note it as a double. Nor did I write a note here. My apologies! ===== IC 2658 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2659 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2662 is a defect on Wolf's original plate, confirmed on the print (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2663 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate. Since the plate has none of Wolf's marks left on it, though, I've had to center up his position in a DSS field, then check the print against DSS. That procedure points unmistakeably at the star. ===== IC 2664 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate. Wolf's position is actually closer to the eastern of the two stars, so that is often taken as the IC object. But the images of the two are blended on the print, so I suspect that both should bear the IC number. Note, too, that the eastern star has a very large proper motion, +166 mas/yr in RA, and -121 mas/yr in Dec, now carrying it away from the western star. On Wolf's plate, the two stars are almost merged, while on the DSS2 images, the stars are about 22 arcsec apart. The motion can actually be seen by "blinking" the red and blue DSS2 images. In spite of the different scales of the images as seen in DSS1 and DSS2, the motion is even more clearly seen by "blinking" those. The position I've adopted from UCAC4 is for the date of observation, claimed to be exactly 2000.0 in the SIMBAD version of the catalogue. Even if that is merely a nominal epoch, the real one is close enough to it to pretty accurately represent the current position of the star. ===== IC 2669 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2671 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2672 is a star superposed on the southern arm of IC 2673 (which see). There are two other much fainter objects to the west of the star; one is a background galaxy and the other is a red star (see the SDSS image) -- these, too, may be included in the image on Wolf's plate. The resolution on the print I looked at is too poor to be sure. It does show both IC objects quite clearly separated, though. ===== IC 2673 is often mistakenly called "IC 2672". But the smaller IC number refers to a star superposed on the southern outskirts of I2673. The galaxy is also in the UGC as number 06288. ===== IC 2675 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2677 is, by Wolf's note ("in L E 290 deg neby"), a star with a fainter compact galaxy just to the northwest. His position, however, falls closely on the star, and the galaxy is too faint to have registered on his plate (the print shows only the star). However, the corona of the star may have been enhanced by the galaxy, giving rise to the appearance of the "little extended [in] 290 deg neby". ===== IC 2681. There is nothing exactly at Wolf's position on his plate. However, examining the print of the plate carefully in January of 2015, I see two possible objects that may have been Wolf's intended nebula. One is the galaxy CGCG 067-048, and the other is a star to its northwest. The galaxy, however, appears stellar on the print of the plate, while the star seems to have a defect superposed that makes the object look like a planetary nebula as noted in Wolf's description. I've put question marks on both objects, and suggest that there is some error in Wolf's measurement or reduction that threw his position off. ===== IC 2682 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2683. Wolf describes this as "pretty large" and "faint", adding "N meas." which I take to mean that he measured what he took to be the nucleus of the object. The galaxy, however, matches others that he has called "small" or "very small" and "very faint". So, I suspect that his image includes the star to the southwest. This is indeed how it appears on the print of his plate, so I've called this IC object a galaxy plus a star. ===== IC 2686 is a star -- perhaps merged with a galaxy and/or a faint defect. The neighboring galaxy is barely visible on the print of the original photograph, and Wolf's position points directly at the star. However, his note says "att[ached] star 14, sf, * meas." Either he made a mistake and meant to say "np" instead of "sf", or (as I suspect) there is a faint defect northwest of the star that enhanced its nebulous appearance. In any event, I've listed the star in the table with the galaxy to the south- east as a possible part of the IC object. ===== IC 2687 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Its relatively large proper motion in RA (-26 mas/yr) has offset Wolf's position from the current epoch positions. ===== IC 2688 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2690. On the high-contrast POSS1 prints, this looked like a star. It is, however, a compact galaxy. ===== IC 2691 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2693 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2694 is a double galaxy, though it appears as a single object on Wolf's plate. He notes two brighter stars nearby; both are on his plate, too. There is a much fainter star to the northwest of the brighter galaxy, but it is too faint to be seen on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2696 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2697 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2698 is a spiral galaxy with a star superposed on the western arm. Wolf notes it as binuclear and claims to have measured the preceding (western) "nucleus". His position, however, is within an arcsecond of the star. Did he actually measure that instead? ===== IC 2699 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2705 is a very faint star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). This barely shows up on the print, and may be enhanced by a defect. But there is a definite image at the correct location. ===== IC 2706 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2709 is a star. It is relatively faint star and there is a low-surface- brightness galaxy nearby. Only the star is seen on the print of the original plate, so the galaxy, though sometimes called IC 2709, is not Wolf's object. ===== IC 2710 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Wolf notes a companion "* 13 att sp"; this confirms that his intended object is the eastern of the two stars, not both of them as we had taken in the past. I've fixed the tables to reflect this. ===== IC 2711 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2712. Though we took this as a pair of galaxies in the past, the print of the original plate shows only the northeastern of the two. The other "object" on the print is a defect centered northwest of the brighter galaxy, not southwest as the fainter galaxy is actually situated on the sky. As with IC 2710 (which see), I've fixed the position table to show this. ===== IC 2715. The galaxy, in spite of its low surface brightness, does show up -- barely! -- on the print of Wolf's plate (see IC 2630). It is patchy and a bit asymmetric, with the brighter part west of the center of the outer isophotes. The position I've chosen is a compromise as the bar is not very bright; some may prefer the SDSS position, centered on a knot on the eastern edge of the brightest inner part of the galaxy. ===== IC 2717 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). This is right at the limit of Wolf's plate, and he notes it as "diffic" -- it indeed is. Nevertheless, it is on the print, and -- at B = 18.1 -- is a good representative of the faintest IC objects. ===== IC 2719 is a very compact galaxy, not a star as we had classified it many years ago on the POSS1 prints. ===== IC 2721. There is nothing at the position of this object. Wolf found it on one of his early plates, and has perhaps made some kind of mistake in its position -- it does not convincingly appear on the print of that plate (see IC 2630 for a bit more about the plate). There may be a faint, smudgy defect at Wolf's position, but it is hardly more than plate grain. Precessing this object for inclusion in the IC, Dreyer coincidentally made a 10 arcmin error in the NPD for this (compare the original NPD of this with that for IC 2720, also in Wolf's 7th list: the difference is about 14 arcmin. The difference in the IC is 4 arcmin, both in the 1860 position and in the 1900 position). Coincidentally, there is a very faint galaxy near this incorrect position which is sometimes taken for IC 2721, but it is not on Wolf's plate (a brighter star north of the galaxy is on the plate, but just barely). Since Wolf's marks have been erased from this plate, the object he meant to include in his list is probably lost for good. ===== IC 2722 is a close triplet of galaxies; it is seen as a single object on the print of the original plate. It is the brightest in a group of galaxies. I had earlier called this a double galaxy, and have had to change the designations of the components to accommodate the additional, faintest, western object, clearly seen in the SDSS image. The old designations, with the corresponding latest ones, are Galaxy Old Desig. New Desig. Brightest IC 2722w IC 2722m 2nd brtst IC 2722e IC 2722e Faintest -- IC 2722w ===== IC 2726. This is not clearly visible on the print of Wolf's original plate. It's possible that it is actually the star that Wolfgang and I have picked up and included in the main table, but the object is further from Wolf's nominal position than is usual for him (perhaps because of a defect). So, without being able to confirm the object, I'm somewhat reluctant to make a solid identification. Thus, the question mark. ===== IC 2728 may be the star near Wolf's position, though it is not clearly visible on the print of his original plate -- the area is covered by a plate defect. However, careful examination of the print and the DSS suggests that the star is a part of the image that Wolf measured, so I've included it with colons as the "best guess" for the identification. ===== IC 2729 is almost certainly the galaxy near Wolf's position. It is visible on the print of his original plate, but a plate defect nearly covers it. ===== IC 2730 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2731 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2733 may possibly be the southern star of the wide double star that I listed in the position table many years ago. There is nothing at Wolf's position on the DSS, POSS1, or on the print of his original plate aside from plate grain. The star is the closest nebulous object on the print, and the companion star of the 14th magnitude that Wolf mentions is indeed just to the north. If the southern star is his intended object, its position is much further off than usual, so Wolf made some mistake in measuring or reducing it. Wolfgang has chosen another star nearby, but it has no "* 14 n". ===== IC 2736 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2741 is probably a galaxy with a faint star nearby. These are blended into a single object on the print of the original plate, perhaps with some defects (or simple plate grain) as well. The object is very faint on the print; it may show up better on the original plate. ===== IC 2743 is a star, seen on a print of the original plate. Wolf has a one minute of time typo in his table for this object -- his object is clearly out of RA order if the position is correct as printed. And there is nothing at the incorrect position. Dreyer caught this and corrected it for the IC. ===== IC 2747 is a double star. Wolf gives us some detail to confirm the identification: a position angle of 140 degrees, and the note "* 13 p 3/4', * 12 p 1 1/2'". All these, plus Wolf's accurate position point directly at the double. ===== IC 2751 is correctly identified as CGCG 185-047 by Javelle's reduced position. Wolfgang's first list had it as CGCG 185-046, but that is incorrect. ===== IC 2753 is not, as I had supposed for many years, a star at Wolf's position. It is a compact galaxy. I've not yet chased it down on the print of the original plate, but the position is very good, and there is nothing else nearby that Wolf could have picked up instead. ===== IC 2755 is a star, probably confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Unfortunately, the position of the star is partially covered by what appears to be a scratch in the plate's emulsion. So, positive confirmation of the image on the print is not clear, though it does look like it is indeed there, peeking out from under one side of the scratch. ===== IC 2758 is a double galaxy; the nearby star noted by Wolf ("* 13 np 1/2'") is there. Unfortunately, the print is completely out of focus at the position of the galaxy -- all three images are included in the same fuzzy blob. This should really be looked at on the original plate. This is the southern-most galaxy that Wolf found on his plate. For more about the plate, see IC 2630. ===== IC 2759. There are two galaxies, nearly equally bright, near Bigourdan's approximate position given in the second IC. To confuse things even further, the northwestern of the pair is just 1.0 second of time west and 1.0 arcmin to the north. That is IC 2759, and is positively identified by Bigourdan's single measured offset from NGC 3651. He also notes the 13th magnitude star 2.5 arcmin away in PA = 300 degrees. The galaxy is well-shown in Hickson's Atlas of compact groups where it is number 51e. The galaxy just over an arcminute to the southeast is Hickson 51b. ===== IC 2760 has a very faint companion superposed on the corona just to the northwest of the nucleus. Steve also noted a slightly brighter galaxy about 1.4 arcmin to the northeast that also appears on the print of Wolf's plate -- but not in his 7th list of nebulae found on that plate. ===== IC 2766 is a fairly late-type spindle galaxy, flanked by two faint stars. All three objects are included in the image on the print of Wolf's plate, but the stars are enough fainter that I have not included them as a part of the IC object. This may be a mistake ... ===== IC 2768. Wolf has a note attached to the entry for this object: "in Ch of about 8 neb'". There is no obvious chain on the DSS images, and the images that Wolf may have been looking at, appear on the print of the original plate to be more like random collections of plate grain, or perhaps defects. In short, I don't see a chain here. Perhaps an examination of the original plate will shed more light on Wolf's comment. ===== IC 2771 is one of Wolf's faintest galaxies; it is barely visible on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2773 is one of two stars near Wolf's position. Neither shows well on the print of the original plate. The fainter star is within 3-4 arcsec of Wolf's position, while the brighter one is northwest by about 15 arcsec. Wolf notes his object as "v. irr., diffic", so it could even be both stars. It is also possible, of course, that Wolf's position could be wrong, the victim of a typo or a reduction error. I've given positions for both, and suggest that this is another object to examine on the original plate. ===== IC 2774 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2776. Wolf's position is 30 arcsec too far north, perhaps the result of a typo or a reduction error. We can be sure of this as the galaxy is a fairly bright and large spiral matching Wolf's data and description. ===== IC 2778 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2780 is the southern of two close objects. The northern is a star mentioned by Wolf in his note on this object. Both objects show well on the print of the original plate. On further north of the star is another galaxy that does not appear on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2781. This galaxy has a pair of blue knots (or superposed stars?) just to the southeast of the bulge. Wolf mentions the star to the northeast, and -- rather curiously -- "a fainter 2' nf", referring to another galaxy. Why didn't he just include it in his list? We know why Dreyer did not include it in the IC -- no accurate position. ===== IC 2788 is a triple interacting galaxy blended into a single image, at least as seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2789 is a blend of a star and a fainter galaxy just northwest. There is a fainter star just to the northeast, and a considerably brighter one 0.7 arcmin to the south. All of these are seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2793 is a blend of a pair of galaxies. Only a single image is seen on the print of the original plate, though there are faint defects nearby. ===== IC 2794 is a star 10 arcsec south of Wolf's position. Its image is on the print of Wolf's original Heidelberg plate. The image is large enough that it reaches to Wolf's position. Other objects on this plate are also south of Wolf's nominal positions (e.g. IC 2808). ===== IC 2796 is a blended pair of galaxies seen as a single image on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2805 is a star, perhaps blended with a faint galaxy just to the west. The image is barely seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2806 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2807. Wolf says "* 14 att p". The star, however, is not attached to the galaxy pinpointed by his position, but is rather just southwest of a considerably fainter galaxy about three seconds of time west. Though the brighter galaxy shows on the original plate, it is clearly not "attached" to the star. Perhaps we are taking Wolf too literally here. The usual identification is the brighter galaxy, and that is the one we'll stick with, at least until the original plate can be examined. ===== IC 2808 is a star 20 arcsec south of Wolf's position. Its image is on the print of the original plate; there is nothing at Wolf's position, and the star's proper motion is small, so I suspect a simple typo or transcription error in Wolf's paper. ===== IC 2809 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2817 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). However, it may have a relatively large proper motion in declination, so it seems to have moved about 10 arcsec south of Wolf's position by the early 2000s. This, at least, is the story from the positions in the table, and from the proper motion reported by USNO-B1.0 and SDSS. UCAC, however, shows an utterly negligible proper motion in declination. Is this one of its rare errors? ===== IC 2824 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2825 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). There is a 30 arcsec error in Wolf's declination; the RA is also half a second of time too small, whereas most of his other RAs on this plate are roughly half a second too large. The star's image is where it should be on the plate, though, so some sort of measurement or reduction error seems to be behind the problem. ===== IC 2827 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2831 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2832 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). It apparently has a large proper motion in RA, but has none listed in the astrometric catalogues that I've looked at. ===== IC 2834. In Wolf's notes for this galaxy, he says "diffic, similar att f, * 12 s". The galaxy is indeed "difficult", and there is also a 12th magnitude star to the south. There is, however, no "similar" nebula near following. The object Wolf is referring to must be a faint defect; it does not show up very well at all on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2833 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2836 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2841 is a star with a superposed defect, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). I suspect that the offset of Wolf's declination is primarily due to the defect. ===== IC 2849 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2851 is a faint galaxy, just barely seen on the print of the original plate. There are no stars nearby, and the print could be out of focus in this area. ===== IC 2854 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2855 is a tiny blue galaxy with a relatively very bright blue knot on the northeastern side. There is a double star superposed on the western side. I'd be suspicious about the classification of these two objects as stars if the southeastern of them did not have an SDSS spectrum showing it to be an F9 Galactic star with a radial velocity of -20 km/s. As the other star appears to be virtually identical, I have little doubt that it, too, is a superposed star. I list individual positions for all these objects in the main table. ===== IC 2858 is not a star, though we have classified it as such for many years. It is, in fact, a compact galaxy -- though with a relatively bright red star superposed! -- included in the 2MASS XSC and in the MAPS north Galactic pole catalogue. I discovered the misclassification when I was adding the IC number to NED in August of 2005. ===== IC 2859 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2863 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2864. This galaxy, well seen on the print of the original plate, has a companion close to the northwest. The companion is also easily visible on the plate, and I wonder how Wolf missed it. Wolf does not even mention it in a note for IC 2864. ===== IC 2865 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). The faint image may also include the star about 15 arcsec north-northwest. ===== IC 2866 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2868 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). The Mt. Wilson observers equated this with IC 698 (see Carlson's 1940 list of NGC/IC corrections), though it is well-separated in position and description. Curiously, they did not make the same equality for IC 2869 (which see) and IC 699. Those two are separated by about the same amount as IC 698 and IC 2868, and are only 5.5 arcmin south. Perhaps they are not on the Mt. Wilson plate. ===== IC 2869 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). See IC 2868 for a curious note. ===== IC 2872 is the brightest part of a large (18 arcmin by 16 arcmin) diffuse nebula. The IC object itself has two or three bright lobes, perhaps defined (as in the Trifid Nebula) by dust lanes. The positions I give in the table are eyeball means for the two and three brightest lobes, while that that Andris measured for ESO-B perhaps includes the apparent cluster that the nebula envelopes. Frost's description "bM, neb. ext. 2' in R.A. and 5'.0 in Dec" matches the two western lobes almost perfectly. His position (given only a tenth of a minute of time and an arcminute in Dec) corresponds to a star a little east of the midpoint of these two brighter lobes, but is still within his usual error. Most of the fainter part of the nebula extends on to the northeast from the IC object itself. ===== IC 2874. This is a Magellanic irregular galaxy, confirmed on the print of the original plate. Wolf has an interesting note: "Cl?" The print indeed begins to show some of the patchy structure of the galaxy; this is what Wolf was referring to with his note. The position I've adopted is for the center of the bar. Like other similar galaxies (the LMC, NGC 2366, etc), the bar is not the brightest structure in the object. ===== IC 2875 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate. The DSS has this star and the one 3/4 arcmin preceding (mentioned by Wolf in his notes, as is the "* 9 sp 1 1/2 arcmin", thus clearly identifying his object) very nearly the same brightness. On the print of Wolf's plate, however, the preceding star is in the corona of the bright star and is considerably enhanced in brightness, apparently a hypersensitization effect. See IC 2630 for more information on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2880 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate. The image is dominated by the northern star, however, and there is no trace of the southern star on the print. There is, however, another star, also seen on the print, just to the northwest of the double; this third star is not mentioned by Wolf, so apparently did not figure in his recognition of the object. ===== IC 2882 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2884 is a line of 6-7 stars with a position angle of 145 degrees. There are just four main images, but at least two of them are clearly multiple. Stewart's position is pretty good. So, I'm puzzled by my SGC workbook note that I could not find the object. Andris Lauberts, Wolfgang Steinicke, and Malcolm Thomson had no trouble with it during their searches. Perhaps I scanned the plate on one of my migraine days. Ouch. Whatever happened, the identity is clear, and I've taken the mean position of the four images as the position of the IC object. ===== IC 2885 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Steve notes that Wolf's position is a bit off the star, but it is not unduly in error. ===== IC 2888 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2890 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2893 is a double galaxy, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). The two are blended into a single image on the print. ===== IC 2895 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2897 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2899 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2902 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2904 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Wolf has a note that reads "[Planetary]; N in vF dif neby." There must be defects on the original plate that do not show up well on the print as the single image is all that is easily visible on the print. ===== IC 2905 is a star. Unfortunately, its image is hidden behind a defect on the print of the original plate -- I do not know if this defect is only on the print or is also on the plate. However, the "* 14 nf 3/4 arcmin" mentioned by Wolf in his note is clearly seen on the print, so shows us just where Wolf's object should be. As usual, his position is pretty good. See IC 2630 for more information on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2906 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2907 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). The star has a relatively high proper motion (-53 mas/yr in RA and -60 mas/yr in Dec), so is 7-8 arcsec off Wolf's position precessed to J2000. ===== IC 2908 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2910 may also be NGC 3724, which see. ===== IC 2911 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Wolf notes "similar nf"; this is a single star, though does have a very faint galaxy just to the west. I've not included the galaxy as part of Wolf's image because of its faintness -- it cannot have contributed much if anything to the star's image which is just barely visible on the print. ===== IC 2915 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2916 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2918 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2919. This is apparently, from the SDSS image, a single galaxy. I had interpreted it earlier, from the first DSS and the POSS1 prints, as a triple interacting system. However, the southern "component" is clearly just the bright southern arm of the spiral. The northern component is either a bright blue knot in the galaxy, or perhaps a superposed star. I suspect it is a knot. ===== IC 2920 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2922 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2924 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Wolf notes a "* 11 nf 1 1/2'" which is just where he claims it is. ===== IC 2926 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2927 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2931 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). Wolf notes a "? neb * 15 np 1/3'"; the star is there, but it is not nebulous. ===== IC 2932 is a double star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2935 is probably a defect on the original plate. The defect certainly shows clearly on the print of that plate that I've examined. Wolf describes his object as "cF, cS, E 130 degrees", and that is very much how it appears on the print. Coincidentally, there are three 20th magnitude galaxies near Wolf's position. These are much too faint to be seen on Wolf's plate, and they are nearly round in any case. However, it is just possible that some combination of the defect and one or more of these galaxies is actually Wolf's intended object. Here is another case where it will be helpful to examine the original plate. See IC 2630 for more information on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 2936 is a galaxy with a double star, very red, on the southwestern side. It is, of course, a single blur on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 2937 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2938 is the brightest galaxy in a poor cluster. There are half a dozen other galaxies within half an arcminute of the center of the bright galaxy; all of them are included in the image on the print of Wolf's plate that I've examined. I've included positions for the two brightest neighboring galaxies; the others may be found in the SDSS. Wolf, by the way, includes the comment "(Plattenrand!)" -- "plate edge!" The star images in this part of the plate are round discs with brighter cores. In some sense, I'm surprised that IC 2938 is so easily visible on the plate. ===== IC 2939 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 2630). ===== IC 2940 does not exist. Bigourdan places it approximately 4 arcmin south- southeast of BD +22 2377, and describes it as an "Extremely faint nebulous object, suspected only. It is possible that the PA is 180deg in error." If that is the case, then the object would be north-northwest of the star. There is nothing in either position. Given that Bigourdan gives only an estimated offset, it is possible that his object is one or another of the faint stars in the area, perhaps even the double star I measured in 1974. It may also be possible that Bigourdan misidentified his comparison star. However, neither hypothesis is likely. Bigourdan measured NGC 3743 on the same night, comparing it to the same star. So, I think it most likely that IC 2940 is one of his "fausses images." ===== IC 2944 and IC 2948. Gregg Thompson in Deep Sky No. XX, XXX, 198X (I've lost the reference, so will have to dig it out again later), raises an interesting question concerning the identity of IC 2948. While it is shown in Sky Atlas 2000.0 as a star cluster, its original IC description "eeL" (extremely, extremely large) makes no mention of its being a cluster. This would suggest that Gregg's identification of the nebula as IC 2948 is correct. Digging just a bit further, we find that the object is indeed listed as a bright nebula in Sky Catalogue 2000.0, along with IC 2944. Both of these objects are listed as clusters in an emission nebula complex in the ESO/Uppsala catalogue, which is probably also correct. But let's look more closely at the story behind the present confusion over the identification of IC 2944 and 2948. The objects are two of those discovered by Royal H. Frost on photographic plates taken in Peru at the Arequipa Station of Harvard Observatory in the early 1900's. For IC 2944, Frost's published notes read, "Nebula around AGC 15848 (lambda Centauri), extending from 11h 30m to 11h 31m, and from -62 14' to -62 40'." For IC 2948, he writes "Nebulous patch extending from 11h 30.6m to 11h 38.1m, and from -62 28' to -63 14'." (The positions are for the equinox 1900). It's obvious from this that Gregg has indeed picked up the correct object. The two nebulae look, on DSS2R images, as if they are simply parts of a single, much larger complex of nebulae extending over several degrees. It is still possible to make the case, as Frost did, that they are separate objects. In that case, IC 2944 would be somewhat more extensive than Frost measured it: my own estimates make it something like 40 arcmin by 20 arcmin. I2948 is much closer to the size that Frost measured: 45 arcmin by 40 arcmin. The particular plate that Frost found these nebulae on is plate 6715 taken on 5 May 1904 with the 24-inch Bruce refractor. This telescope is a short-focus instrument capable of taking very wide field photographs. Indeed, the field size is almost exactly that (6.4 x 6.4 degrees) of the modern 1.2-m Schmidt telescopes at Palomar Mountain and at Siding Spring which have given us our definitive twentieth-century optical sky surveys. Oddly enough, Gregg has also uncovered IC 2948's other common -- perhaps mistaken -- identification in the astronomical literature as a star cluster. B.A. Gould was the first to see it this way in 1897 on plates taken at Cordoba Observatory in Argentina. He counted 236 stars in the area, gave photographic magnitudes for them, and noted the proximity to Lambda Centauri. In his 1930 book Star Clusters, Harlow Shapley lists IC 2948 in the catalogue of open clusters with an angular diameter of 15 arcmin, but with only 25 stars. This discrepancy with Gould's description is unfortunately not unusual in the early catalogues of clusters and nebulae. These catalogues were usually little more than finding lists and descriptions, though Shapley was among the first to attempt to quantify the study of deep sky objects. He gave a distance of 660 parsecs for IC 2948, from which he calculated an intrinsic linear diameter of 2.9 parsecs. After another quarter century of obscurity, IC 2948 was again noted in the literature, this time by Colin Gumm in his exploration of the vast, glowing clouds of ionized hydrogen in the southern Milky Way. He entered it as number 42 in his "Survey of Southern H II Regions" found on wide field photographs taken at Mt. Stromlo in the early 1950's. David Thackery in 1964 was the first to note IC 2948's probable true nature: it is a cluster of brilliant young stars in an H II region. He also noticed the neighboring IC 2944 with its retinue of bright blue giant stars. Together with IC 2948, Thackery described the region as "containing one of the biggest concentrations of (spectral type) O stars in the sky." This has made it interesting to astronomers as a birthplace of stars, and only its far southern location has kept it from assuming an important role in recent studies of stellar evolution. In 1986, however, Charles Perry and Arlo Landolt of Louisiana State University, working at Cerro Telolo Observatory in Chile, have found that the "cluster" associated with IC 2944 is apparently a chance superposition of O and B type stars at different distances along our line of sight. Is it possible that IC 2948 is similarly an illusion? Gregg's description certainly bears this out, though the appearance of the nebula on the UK Schmidt Southern Sky Survey photograph is that of a typical young association of a gaseous nebula with its superimposed dark Bok globules, and with bright stars buried in the heart of the nebula. It reminds me quite a bit of the similar nebulae M 16, M 17, and M 20 with their associated clusters -- and of course of that spectacular prototype of the stellar nursery, M 42, the Orion Nebula. I suspect that if it were further north, IC 2948 would be nearly as famous as any of these. Well. Back to the identifications. For IC 2944, I've adopted the position for lambda Cen; and for I2948 the approximate geometrical center of the large nebula that Frost describes. As I noted above, ESO-B adopted positions for the clusters rather than the nebulae, so I've taken the ESO-B positions out of the position table. ===== IC 2945. If IC 2938 (which see) is near the plate edge, then this is almost off the edge! The entire galaxy is on the plate, but just barely. See IC 2630 for more on this plate. This, by the way, is the last of the nebulous objects that Wolf found on this plate; it is number 310 in his 7th list of nebulae found on plates he took at Heidelburg just after the turn of the 20th century. ===== IC 2948. See IC 2944. ===== IC 2949 may be the double star that I've put into the position table. It is fairly close to Finlay's crude position (from setting circles), and is bright enough that he could have seen it in the 6- and 7-inch refractors that he was using in the 1880's. Unfortunately, Finlay has left us no description of the object he found. I think, though, that the double would be a decent candidate for the sort of optics Finlay was using. I do not think that the much fainter galaxy (ESO 266-G016) seven arcmin to the south, chosen by Andris and Wolfgang as I2949, could have been seen in Finlay's relatively small telescopes. In addition, it has a brighter star superposed that would probably help to hide the galaxy were it a marginal object. ===== IC 2952. See NGC 3847 and NGC 3855. ===== IC 2953 may be NGC 3855, which see. ===== IC 2954. This is probably a star at Javelle's position. The doubt remains as there is a galaxy (CGCG 157-028) 3 min 32.2 sec north which matches Javelle's description -- and Javelle's offset from his comparison star is -3 min 30.7 sec. Is there a confusion somewhere that I've missed? I doubt this as Javelle found the nearby IC 2956 on the same night, and used the same comparison star to measure its offset, and got its position to within 6 arcsec in declination. Javelle's declination for the star in question is 4.5 arcsec off in the same direction, leading me to believe that he measured the star rather than the nearby galaxy. His right ascension for his object, though, agrees perfectly with that for the galaxy. Well -- put a question mark on the identification. Unless we can find his actual observing notes, we may never know the answer. ===== IC 2955 is not NGC 3862, but is the fainter companion about an arcminute to the northwest of the brighter elliptical. Bigourdan saw both galaxies on 28 March 1886 and measured them both the next night. He returned to them on 30 April 1899, and measured them both again. ===== IC 2956. See IC 2954. ===== IC 2957. This is probably a copying error by Javelle (or an assistant) in the coordinates of the comparison star, BD +32 2184 = SAO 62690: it is listed two degrees north of its actual position. Javelle's math is correct given this mistake, so his derived position for the galaxy is also two degrees north of the true position. This suggest a transcription error to me rather than a simple typo. ===== IC 2958. There is no problem with the IC identification or position for this galaxy. However, CGCG incorrectly printed this number for IC 2968 (which see). ===== IC 2959 = NGC 3871. Javelle must have been confused by Dreyer's NGC notes on this (see NGC 3871 for more). His RA is about 17 seconds off the NGC RA, but given that Dreyer had the position sorted out and the correct RA given in the IC 1 notes, I'm slightly surprised that Javelle did not notice the identity. He does comment in a footnote that he also measured NGC 3878, 3880, and 3881, so he, too, saw all four of the brighter members of the group. (He found a fainter one, too, IC 2858, which see.) ===== IC 2962 is currently lost. While excavating the sky for SEGC, I wondered if it might be identical to NGC 3905. That has the same RA, but the Dec is 2 deg 35 arcmin off Swift's, making the identity very doubtful. The object is also not 10 or 20 degrees south of its nominal position. Nor is it 10 degrees north, and the RA is not one hour off one way or another. See IC 2595 for more about the nebulae that Swift discovered on the night of 22 February 1898. ===== IC 2963 may also be NGC 3915 (which see) -- but is probably not. ===== IC 2964 does not exist. Bigourdan found it and another "nova" while searching for NGC 3908 (which see for its own story). He decided that his second new object was nothing more than a star, and it is included in the description for I2964 that he published in Comptes Rendus. This made it into the IC as well. In fact, Bigourdan's estimated position for the second object clearly points at a star. But there is nothing at all in his position for the IC object. ===== IC 2965 = NGC 3957. Swift has only a position and a spare description "B, S, eE, a ray." This description, and his declination, agree with those for NGC 3957, but his RA is 3.5 minutes of time off. Still, the NGC galaxy is the only one around which comes close to matching. So, unless someone can find a better candidate, I'm going with the identity. ===== IC 2968. Kobold's original observation was not a careful micrometric offset, but an estimate appended to his description of NGC 3937: 12.7 seconds preceding, 16 arcsec south (the actual offsets are 12.1 seconds preceding, 21 arcsec south, based on Guide Star Catalogue positions for the two galaxies). Nevertheless, his offsets are good enough to unambiguously identify the galaxy. How Vorontsov missed it is a mystery to me. He lists the galaxy in the MCG notes (without the IC number, of course), yet -- in spite of the explicit note in the IC description -- he incorrectly makes it identical to NGC 3937. RNGC, UGC, NGC 2000.0, and PGC all copied his incorrect identification. The CGCG misidentification of I2968 as IC 2958 (either a copying error or a typo) is an unfortunate coincidence: this led to Nilson's giving that number to the galaxy in the UGC notes, and undoubtedly reinforced in his mind the incorrect MCG identification which he repeated, albeit with a query. The UZC, of course, also copied the incorrect IC number from CGCG. ===== IC 2969. Swift's position is about 10 arcmin too far north. The incorrect position coincidentally falls near CGCG 012-110, which has sometimes been taken as the IC object. The object that Swift really found is MCG -01-30-040, and can be clearly identified by Swift's note of a "B * f 55 sec; np of 2." The star is SAO 138460, and the other nebula is IC 2972 = NGC 3952 (which see). Though the MCG object is smaller and fainter than the CGCG, it has a much higher surface brightness, so is more likely to have been seen during a visual survey like Swift's. ===== IC 2970. In spite of Carlson's contention that this is a triple star, there is nothing at all near Swift's nominal position. It may be that the triple that showed up on the Mt. Wilson plate is the one at 11 51 15.7, -22 56 39 (B1950.0), pretty close southwest of NGC 3955. This, however, is 30 seconds of time and 6 arcminutes off the nominal position; I suspect it was taken as I2970 just because Dreyer changed Swift's comment "not [N]3955" to "II 623 f." Another curiosity. In the SGC workbook, I note I2970 as "not found." But in my copy of the IC, I have it as a double star. I suspect that I was looking at the star with a faint companion at 11 50 28.1, -22 51 03 (B1950.0). I also suspect that "Not found" is a better conclusion for this object, too. ===== IC 2972 = NGC 3952. The IC object can be clearly identified by Swift's notes in the description: "2 B sts n & np; s of 2." The two bright stars are SAO 138460 and 138464; the other galaxy is IC 2969 (which see). The NGC position for N3952, from the Herschels, is good, and Swift's is not far off, either. It's rather curious, then, that neither Swift nor Dreyer made the identification before the IC was published. This has happened in other cases, though -- perhaps there were in 1908 already too many known galaxies for one or two people to catalogue adequately. ===== IC 2974 pretty clearly also carries the number IC 2975, which see. ----- Well, probably not. See the update to IC 2975. Not so incidentally, Swift's description of the star field around IC 2974 is accurate: "eeeF, vS, lE, ray; in vacancy, 4 F sts in line s; 1 B and 3 F sts n." There are couple of other fairly bright stars in his field that he might have picked up, but the main ones in his line south and the four to the north are certainly there. Note, too, that the apparently inconsistent description of the shape of the nebula "lE, ray" is probably a transcription or typographical error in Swift's big 11th list in AN 3517, and in his MN second Lowe list. In the PASP version of the second Lowe list, the shape is described as "eE, a ray". This makes more sense. ===== IC 2975 is almost certainly a reobservation of IC 2974. Swift's descriptions in his various papers are appropriate to the galaxy as well as to the star field around it. In particular, his note on the shape is "eE, a ray" in the PASP version of the second Lowe Observatory list. He mistranscribed this as "lE" in the MNRAS version and in the AN collection which Dreyer used. The position of IC 2975 is Swift's single least precisely noted position with both RA and Dec being marked by question marks, and the Dec being given to just a full degree. Curiously, his position for IC 2974, from just a couple of years earlier in March of 1895, is pretty good, being only a couple of arcminutes off the galaxy. But the positions from his last two years of observing are among his worst, and October of 1897 is within a few months of the last of his published discovery dates for any of his nebulae. ----- In March 2017, Gary Kronk found the star field that Swift described in his 12th list for this object. Here is Swift's full description, "eeF, lE, v small. 3 B sts in line n, also circle of sts n. Saw it twice, failed once." The star field suggests that Swift saw a double star south of the "circle of sts n". In particular, this entry in his list is almost certainly NOT a reobservation of IC 2974 as I had so confidently stated years ago. The double star I've chosen is about five arcminutes south of the circle. It looks faint at first, but the combined G magnitude (from the Gaia DR1 list) is 14.4, well within Swift's capabilities with his 16-inch refractor. There is also the possibility that his object is the double star on the south side of the circle itself. This is brighter, but the brighter star is fully as bright as the northern star of the circle. I don't think that its fainter companion to the northwest would have given it enough of a nebulous hint on a poor night. So, this brighter double gets a question mark while the fainter one to the south carries a colon. The only unexplained peculiarity of the observation remaining is Swift's note of "Previous" in the "Date" column. Gary points out that if we take the previous entry in the table (10 Oct 1897), the object would only be a few degrees from the sun and unobservable. So, "Previous" must refer to some other date. If, for example, the object were actually IC 2974 as I had suggested earlier, then it might point to the date for that earlier discovery. However, as IC 2975 is almost certainly not IC 2974, I am going to suggest that this word is a reference to the "previous" observation implied in Swift's note "Saw it twice, failed once." Perhaps he simply copied his own internal note "Previous" from his lost observing logs. This is simply a guess, but I also note that nowhere else in his many lists of new nebulae does Swift use the word "Previous" in the date column. He lists the day in all but a handful of cases, and goes to some effort to make the month and year clear, too. In any event, we don't know the discovery date of this object beyond the year (1897 -- or perhaps 1898 given the uncertainties in the discovery years given elsewhere in the 12th list). Note, too, that the first paragraph of my previous note -- preserved above -- conflates the descriptions of the two objects. This turns out to be simply wrong. I hope I've got it all right now! ===== IC 2976 = NGC 3979, which see. ===== IC 2979. There is a one degree error in the north polar distance of Javelle's comparison star in his table. His measured position and description fit UGC 6925 very well, so the identity is sure. This one degree error also applies to IC 2981, found on the same night and referred to the same star. See that for more. ===== IC 2981. Javelle found the IC galaxy the same night and referred it to the same star as IC 2979 (which see); his declination for the star is also wrong for this object. Javelle made yet another error with this galaxy: his RA offset has the wrong sign. When that is corrected, his position falls within three arcsec of CGCG 157-056, his description is appropriate, and the identity is secure. The CGCG galaxy, by the way, is usually taken to be NGC 3966 with a 30 second error in its RA. This is wrong; N3966 (which see) is actually = NGC 3986. ===== IC 2982 was rediscovered by Holmberg, hence its secondary designation as "NGC 4004B". I had some doubts about the identification as I2982 since the galaxy is about three arcmin north of the IC position. Reducing Bigourdan's observation (he simply estimated the position with respect to the comparison star because the star prevented him from seeing the galaxy well), I found that his approximate position is about 15 arcsec from the galaxy. Combined with his description, "Probably nebulous object; the proximity of the comparison star prevents it from being seen well." The galaxy is indeed close to the star and in the direction which Bigourdan notes (2 seconds east at the same declination), so I now have no reason to doubt that he did indeed see the galaxy. ===== IC 2983 is not NGC 4006 as some have supposed. Bigourdan found I2983 on the same night on which he observed N4006, so the two cannot be identical. However, there is no object at the position estimated by Bigourdan for I2983: +10 sec and -6 arcmin from BD -1 2597. There are several stars near; one is mentioned in Bigourdan's description of N4006. Two fainter stars are possible candidates as Bigourdan's object, but they are more than an arcminute away from his position. In the end, I have chosen to simply say "Not found" for I2983. But the possibility remains that it is actually a star -- if so, it is probably unrecoverable, given the estimated position. ===== IC 2988 is, if anything at all, a faint star near Bigourdan's position. Though he has two measurements of it on 21 March 1898, they disagree by nearly 20 arcsec in declination, so the identity is not beyond doubt. I do not see any reduction problem with his measurements, just the disagreement between them. Still, one of his measurements is within a few arcsec of the star, so he probably did see it vaguely. His description is telling, too: "Pretty nebulous, pretty granulated, no other detail seen because of the object's extreme faintness. * 11.5 at PA = 150 deg, d = 2.7 arcmin." The 11.5 magnitude star is where he says it is, so I'll take the identity with the faint star, even though it is fainter than Bigourdan's normal limit. ===== IC 2989 = NGC 4139, which see. ===== IC 2992. This, too (see IC 2957), is probably a copying error by Javelle in the position of the comparison star: it is listed as being 30 minutes south of its actual position, a "5" replacing the correct "2" in the minutes of north polar distance. As with I2957, Javelle's math is correct aside from the 30 arcmin error. ===== IC 2993. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. When the correct star is used, IC 2993 is easily identified as a faint, otherwise uncatalogued galaxy about 3 arcmin southwest of MCG +06-27-003. Unfortunately, CGCG pulled CGCG 187-005 (a double galaxy) out of the hat for the IC number; this is the wrong object. IC 3003 was also affected by Javelle's error; see it for more. ===== IC 2997 is not NGC 4090, though is often taken to be. The confusion is understandable, as there is nothing at Bigourdan's (and the IC's) position. It's worth noting here that Bigourdan recorded the two objects on the same night (his observations of N4090 are in his Appendix 8, "Complementary Observations"). Bigourdan's two observations of I2997, referred to the same star on the same night, are as discordant as any of his that I've seen: 43 arcseconds apart. He's clearly made an error, and I suspect that his error was to record a position angle of 150.80 degrees as 158.80 degrees. With that corrected, the two observations agree to within 4 arcsec. That is the position I've given in the table. In any event, there is nothing exactly at this position, but 17.5 arcsec away is a 17th magnitude star that has another much brighter star at about PA = 155 degrees, distance 1.8 arcmin, an offset mentioned in his description for a star of "11.8-12". The actual magnitude is 13.5 (in B, 13.6 in R; both from USNO A2.0). This suggests that he glimpsed the 17th magnitude star -- with a 12-inch telescope, from the middle of Paris, in the late 1800's when street- lighting was becoming popular (stop laughing; it MIGHT be possible ...) My own guess is that IC 2997 is actually another of Bigourdan's "fausse images" such as NGC 2529 and NGC 2531, or IC 2610 (all of which see). It's interesting that another of Bigourdan's lost nebulae, IC 2998 (which see), is also in the NGC 4092 group -- and was also glimpsed on the same night as this one. ===== IC 2998 may be one of the galaxies in the NGC 4092 group -- but this isn't likely as Bigourdan has good measurements of all the others (though he lists NGC 4095 under the number "4098"). He has just one "observation" of I2998, and it consists only of a scanty description. He gives no offsets, not even estimated ones. The comparison "star" he lists is NGC 4099 with its NGC position. His note says only: "Object seen only once, then lost from view, the sky having become a little worse. One of d'A's new nebulae could be identical to one of H's. All the nebulae in the group are pretty insignificant except for GC 2714 [NGC 4099] which is pretty well seen." The CR paper, from which Dreyer correctly copied the IC position, has 11 58 46, 68 28 as the 1860.0 position (with NPD rather than declination which Bigourdan later adopted for his big tables). The CR description is "vF nebula, neighboring but distinct from the nebulae in the area listed in NGC." In his tables of new nebulae, the 1900.0 position becomes 12 00 59, +21 11 with the brief comment "Only glimpsed." Precessing these positions to a common equinox shows immediately that they are about 10 arcmin apart, with the later position being just over an arcmin northeast of NGC 4098 = NGC 4099 (which see for its own problems). Bigourdan has no discussion of how he derived the two different positions, so we have no way of knowing which to accept. I've put them both in my position list -- no guessing here! In fact, it does not matter which position we go to -- there is no nebula at either one. I think that this, like IC 2997, is probably an illusory "nebula" picked up in a moment of fatigue, or while pushing too hard against the limit of the telescope. ===== IC 3000 is most likely a defect on the Bruce plate which Stewart examined. Even though there is a very faint spindle near Stewart's position, it is too faint and too small to have been recorded on the Bruce plate. It also does not match Stewart's description: "F, indistinct, * like, but poss. defect, susp." ===== IC 3003 is CGCG 187-011. As noted with IC 2993 (which see), Javelle misidentified his comparison star. Unlike I2993, however, CGCG has got the correct number on the correct galaxy for I3003. ===== IC 3006 is probably a plate defect. It was found by Royal Frost on a four- hour Bruce reflector plate taken at Arequipa, and was also recorded nearly 30 years later by Adelaide Ames at the same position, on the same plate. There is nothing near that position on the POSS1 and the DSS but a star about an arcmin northwest. Frost's and Ames's descriptions make an interesting contrast: Frost says "R, bM, magn 15", while Ames has m = 16.2, maximum diameter 41 arcsec, ellipticity (diamin/diamax) = 0.6, and a "class" that decodes as "irregular, bM but no N". All this is consistent with a description of a small plate defect. We can someday check the Harvard plate to be sure -- if the plate is not thrown out in the meantime (see e.g. B.E. Schaefer, S&T 105, No. 3, p. 42, 2003). ===== IC 3009 is probably a defect on Schwassmann's plate. There is nothing near his position bright enough to match his description ("pB, cS, fig? dist"). I also think that the "fig? dist" is telling -- it reads like a description of a plate defect. Arnold Schwassmann, unlike his Heidelberg colleague Max Wolf, worked on a plate taken with a 6-inch astrographic refrector. For the IC, his contribution comes from a single massive paper in the first volume of the Publications of the Konigstuhl-Heidelberg Observatory of 1902, sub-titled "Konigstuhl-Nebelliste No. 2" (the other lists merged into the IC are 1 and 4-7, all by Max Wolf. List No. 3, also by Wolf, has about 1500 nebulous objects in the area of the Coma Cluster). In his paper, Schwassmann developed techniques of plate reduction -- intended to convert x-y measurements on photographic plates to equatorial coordinates -- to find accurate positions of objects. As a "test" case, he used a plate taken by Wolf on 15 April 1895 centered near 20 Virginis. The plate covered an area of 12.0 x 8.2 degrees, and recorded 301 objects that Schwassmann took to be nebulous. As with many of the other pioneering efforts in photography, many stars and a few defects ended up in this list of nebulae. When Wayne Johnson requested copies of the plates from Heidelberg, he received only those from Wolf's 3rd through 8th lists along with the information that the other plates could not be found in the archives. So, I do not have a copy of the plate that Schwassmann used for his survey of the Virgo Cluster. ===== IC 3011 = NGC 4124 is also probably = NGC 4119 (which see for that story). The position given by Schwassmann for the galaxy is virtually identical to its NGC position. I do not know why he did not make the connection between the two, nor do I know why Dreyer also missed the identity. There are at least a dozen other NGC numbers that Schwassmann and Dreyer missed (e.g. NGC 4235 = IC 3098, NGC 4241 = IC 3115, NGC 4482 = IC 3427, NGC 4633 = IC 3688; all of which see). In any event, the two numbers clearly refer to the same galaxy. ===== IC 3017. Nearly all the modern catalogues follow CGCG in assigning the number IC 3017 to the brighter, southern of a pair of faint galaxies northwest of the center of the Virgo Cluster. This, however, is probably wrong as this brighter galaxy is likely to be IC 3018 (which see) with a 30 arcmin error in its declination. The fainter galaxy is almost certainly IC 3017 -- Frost's nominal position is closer to this object. Adelaide Ames, working from the same plate as Frost, agrees; she adopted his position for the entry for this galaxy in her Virgo Cluster catalogue. ===== IC 3018 is probably the brighter, southern-most of a pair of galaxies found on a Bruce refractor plate by Royal Frost (the northern is IC 3017, which see). However, Frost made the declination 30 arcmin too large; there is nothing at his nominal position which Dreyer copied correctly into the second IC. The mistake was caught by Adelaide Ames while compiling her Virgo Cluster catalogue from the same plates that Frost examined. She words her note very cautiously (did she ever meet Frost?) and does not give the IC number in her table. However, I am pretty well convinced of the identity, so adopt it without reservations. ===== IC 3019 is one of the Virgo Cluster's low-surface-brightness "dwarf" spheroidal galaxies. It has no obvious nucleus, but the various automated surveys have narrowed the position down very well anyway. There are many other similar galaxies in the Virgo Cluster that were picked up on the early plates at Heidelberg and Harvard. In general, the recent surveys have positions that are acceptable for the images. Where a galaxy might be more difficult to pin down, I've generally listed all the automated positions, plus others that I can find or determine, so that you can see why I have chosen a particular position. ===== IC 3026 must be a defect on the 1-hour Harvard plate, number 3703. There is nothing in its position and Stewart notes that IC 764 is "p 0.3 min, n 11 arcmin" which is correct. Stewart also lists IC 764 in his table where it has similar offsets (0.4 minutes west, 12 arcmin north), so it is clear that he has the position of I3026 correct. For the record, Dreyer correctly copies Stewart's position and description into the second IC. All this can be checked if the plate still exists at Harvard. ===== IC 3027 is a plate defect. Found by Royal Frost on Bruce plate number 6718, it was picked up again by Adelaide Ames for her Virgo Cluster catalogue -- but dropped into a footnote where she identifies it as a defect. ===== IC 3030 must also be a plate defect, though it fooled Ames, too (see IC 3027 which did not) -- there is nothing near the position given by Frost and Ames but a very faint, very small galaxy that would not have made it onto the Bruce plate. ===== IC 3035 = NGC 4165, which see. ===== IC 3042 = NGC 4178. This was a simple oversight on Schwassmann's part -- he did not include the NGC number in his Virgo Cluster table, and Dreyer did not catch the identity with N4178 (which is well-positioned by JH's observation). ===== IC 3045. Like IC 3009, this is probably a defect on Schwassmann's plate. There is nothing at all at his position, let alone anything that matches his description "pB or pF, cS, N s M, N = * 10.5, S N pt" ("pt" means "pointed"). The mention of the bright eccentric nucleus especially reminds me of some of the blemishes that regularly appear on the POSS1, especially near the edges of the plates. ===== IC 3048 is probably the western of two stars near Schwassmann's position. His positions are systematically too far east by about 0.3 or 0.4 seconds of time and about 2 arcsec too far north. Taking these offsets into account leads to the western star. However, his standard deviation is around 5 arcsec in both coordinates, so it is not implausible that he actually saw a blended image of both stars on his plate. Unfortunately, since the plate can not at present be found at Heidelberg, we can't check this or any of the other missing "nebulae" that Schwassmann found on it. ===== IC 3049. My previous interpretation of this object is a perfect case of what can happen given a lack of data. Here is what I said previously: IC 3049 is perhaps the southeastern of a pair of galaxies. Frost calls it "R, planetary?, magn 16" which will make it very small and faint in the grand scheme of things. I suspect the southeastern as it is a fairly compact elliptical with a bright nucleus, and would show up better on Frost's plate. However, the northwestern object, a low surface brightness IBm pec, may well be blended with its brighter neighbor on the plate. So, I've chosen the pair itself as the IC object, but give the individual positions, including one for a bright knot (or superposed star?) also involved in the image. Short of looking at the original plate, this is probably the best we can do. The SDSS has clarified the situation here in a way that even the second DSS can't. The low surface brightness dwarf, an SAB?m in the SDSS image, is a member of the Virgo Cluster; its redshift is 2441 +- 5 km/s. It is superposed on a pair of distant galaxies, the brighter being the southeastern galaxy that I noted before, the second being the "bright knot (or superposed star?)". Both have redshifts in SDSS: the galaxy, an SAB?(sr?)a?, has a redshift of 19,037 +- 3 km/s, the fainter, perhaps an Sa? seen through the late-type dwarf, is at 19,127 +- 9 km/s. So, the Virgo Cluster dwarf is superposed on a much more distant background pair. Given that Frost was working with a plate taken with a 24-inch telescope, all three objects must have been blended into a single image. So, at least my previous conclusion that the entire complex of three objects is the IC object is still correct. The mean position that I give for the IC object is based on the SDSS positions for the pair, and a mean of three of the USNO-B1.0 positions for the dwarf. Magnitudes and diameters are going to be fun to sort out ... ===== IC 3050 = NGC 4189, IC 3051 = NGC 4193, and IC 3064 = NGC 4206 all appeared in Schwassmann's list of nebulae in the Virgo Cluster. Their positions are all very close to the NGC positions, so I'm pretty sure that neither Schwassmann nor Dreyer checked the earlier catalogue closely before listing these as new nebulae. There is no doubt about the identities; the positions and descriptions are too close to question. Adelaide Ames was the first to suggest all three identifications in her 1930 Virgo Cluster catalogue. ===== IC 3051 = NGC 4193. See IC 3050. ===== IC 3056 is most likely DDO 114 = UGC 7249 with a one-degree error in its declination. There is nothing at Frost's position that he could have picked up on his plate (the galaxy that Glen Deen suggests is much too faint and small to have been seen on the early Bruce plate). The identification was first suggested by Adelaide Ames in her 1930 monograph and catalogue of Virgo Cluster galaxies. Though the position angle is a bit off Frost's (he says 50 degrees, Ames has 60 degrees, and I measure 67 for the main body of the galaxy), the position is indeed exactly one degree south of Frost's nominal place. His brief description is appropriate, too: "Streak, E 1 arcmin at 50 degrees." The accurate position is a bit difficult to obtain as there is no obvious structure to the galaxy aside from the patchy streak. The position I've adopted from GSC2.3 more or less represents the entire galaxy, and certainly allows for unambiguous identification of this low-surface-brightness dwarf in the Virgo Cluster. ===== IC 3057 may be ESO 267-G036, but that is well off Stewart's nominal position. Also, the galaxy is a low surface brightness, late-type spiral, while Stewart's description reads "cF, S, R neb or defect, susp." Finally, the Bruce plate was exposed for only one hour rather than the usual four hours for deep sky-limited plates at Arequipa. So, I3057 is most likely, as Stewart suggested, a defect. ===== IC 3064 = NGC 4206. See IC 3050. ===== IC 3067 = IC 772, which see. ===== IC 3070 is a star northeast of the center of NGC 4206. Schwassmann's position is very close to the modern position. ===== IC 3071 and IC 3072 are stars near NGC 4207. Schwassmann's positions are good enough to unabiguously identify them. ===== IC 3072 is a star. See IC 3071. ===== IC 3074 is a late-type galaxy seen almost exactly edge-on. The DSS images appear to show a galaxy similar to NGC 55 with an eccentric bar, in this case toward the northern end of the galaxy, and a slightly fainter arm toward the southern end. The SDSS image is somewhat more symmetric, but the center of the bulge is still offset toward the north. ===== IC 3076 is a star at Schwassmann's position. Even though Ames declared it "Not found" and Wolfgang pointed at a faint galaxy, Schwassmann's position is within five arcseconds of the DSS position, and his description ("vF, vS") from the 6-inch plate is appropriate. ===== IC 3083 may be the galaxy that Wolfgang and I have noted in the position table. It is just 3 arcmin south of Frost's position, and matches his description (copied exactly into the IC). We need to look at the Harvard Bruce plate to be sure, however. ===== IC 3085 is a star, the western of three nearly equally bright stars forming a triangle. Schwassmann's position is good enough to clearly identify the star he measured. ===== IC 3086 is a double star. Schwassmann's position is good. ===== IC 3087 is three stars, a close double and a single star, rather widely separated, but in the correct position angle to match Schwassmann's description ("F, pS, like a line, 30 degrees"). The close double is clearly resolved in the SDSS image, and has a very faint galaxy just north. Schwassmann also has a separate listing for NGC 4222 -- about 1.3 arcminutes to the northwest, and which he has at the correct position angle (58 degrees) -- so IC 3087 cannot be identical to it as suggested in CGCG and MCG. ===== IC 3088 is another star in the triangle that also includes IC 3085 (which see). Schwassmann's position falls within 10 arcsec of the star, and his description (vF, vS, li[ke] * 14) is appropriate for it. Wolfgang takes the third star in the triangle 25 arcseconds north as the IC object. While I think that this is less likely, it is perhaps possible. It may be that both stars are involved in Schwassmann's object. We'd have to look at his plate, but it may no longer exist. ===== IC 3090 is a wide double star. Schwassmann simply says "vF, S"; his position agrees in RA with the southeastern star, and in Dec with the northwestern. ===== IC 3095 is the first object in Max Wolf's fourth list of new nebulae found on 24-inch plates taken at Heidelberg early in the 20th century. This particular plate, number B717, includes the Coma Berenices star cluster. Wolf lists 272 objects on the plate, including 22 NGC galaxies and four objects from IC1. The remaining 246 are newly catalogued. Fortunately, G. Klare at Heidelberg Observatory sent contact prints to Wayne Johnson of most of the plates that Wolf used. Wayne has been kind enough to loan the prints to me more or less indefinitely so that I can use them to find the IC objects on them. Unfortunately, almost all of Wolf's marks have been scrubbed off the plate, so like the plate from which he assembled his seventh list (see IC 2630 for more on that, as well as some general comments about the two plates without Wolf's marks), I have used the DSS in conjuction with the print to confirm the existence of each object on the plate. I use the word "confirmed" (rather than "verified") to indicate that there is an image at or near Wolf's position on his plate. Traces of Wolf's ink marks remain for a few images; in these cases, I will use the word "verified" in the position files. ===== IC 3098 = NGC 4235. There is a possibility that Schwassmann did not include the NGC number in his list because of the confusion over NGC 4223 (which see) and NGC 4241. However, I think he simply overlooked the NGC number in this particular case. His position agrees with the NGC position to within 6-7 arcsec, and his description matches that for N4235 very well. So, while the two "different" objects are clearly the same, both Schwassmann and Dreyer missed the identity, and we now have an IC number on the NGC object. ===== IC 3102 = NGC 4223, which see. The IC position is good, so the identity of the IC object is not in doubt. The NGC position, however, is incorrect. See the discussion under NGC 4223 for more on this. ===== IC 3103 is a star. Like several others in Schwassmann's list, he notes that it is "li[ke] * 13." Since it is the only object in the area of his position, the identification is secure. ===== IC 3104 is a nearby dwarf galaxy found by Frost on one of the Bruce plates taken at Arequipa. It is well-resolved on the IIIa-J southern sky survey plates, and matches Frost's description well. Because of its far southern declination, its RA is not well-constrained, at least numerically. Also the galaxy has no nucleus, so its position is usually taken as the center of the "bar". ===== IC 3106 is another star mistaken for a nebula by Schwassmann on his plate taken with a 6-inch telescope. Though he claims the nebula is elongated in PA = 95 degrees, this must be the result of a plate defect of some sort. Remarkably, there is a galaxy about an arcminute distant with the correct PA. However, it is too faint (SDSS makes it 17.0 in their "g" band; this is around 17.2 or 17.3 in B) to have registered on Schwassmann's plate, so the star is almost certainly the correct object. ===== IC 3109. CGCG has misidentified this object. It is actually the brighter, south-preceding of two galaxies, CGCG 069-131, not the fainter, north- following, CGCG 069-134. Frost's position is closer to the brighter object, so there is no question of the correct identification. ===== IC 3113 = NGC 4246. Schwassmann's position is within an arcminute of the NGC position. But given that that position derives from a single observation by WH, it's possible that neither Schwassmann nor Dreyer really believed that the object seen by WH existed (see the NGC note and my comments under NGC 4246 for more). It's just as likely, though, that both cataloguers simply missed the identity. I think that is what happened with IC 3098 (which see) = NGC 4235. In any event, the two numbers clearly point to only one galaxy. ===== IC 3114 is a star. Schwassmann called it "cF, vS, li[ke] * 12-13", but there is no nebulosity associated with it on the POSS plate or the DSS images. ===== IC 3115 = NGC 4241. See NGC 4223 = IC 3102. The IC numbers and positions are good; it is the NGC that is confused. See the discussion under NGC 4223. See also IC 3011 and IC 3098 for more about Schwassmann's list of new nebulae. ===== IC 3117 is a wide double star at the correct orientation (about 30 degrees) to be Schwassmann's object. He calls it "eF, S, l[engthened] 30 degrees". ===== IC 3123 probably involves a defect on Schwassmann's plate as well as the 8th magnitude star at his position. His description could go either way: "neb or *, dist, alpha delta :". ===== IC 3124 is a star. I suspect that Schwassmann's plate has a defect superposed as the star is relatively faint. ===== IC 3125 is a star close to Wolf's position. It is easily visible on the print of the original plate (see IC 3095 for more about the plate and print). ===== IC 3128 is a double or triple system, perhaps including a third (or fourth) galaxy to the southeast. The main component (VIII Zw 180.2) appears to me to be a bright nearly stellar object with a plume to the southeast superposed on a fainter galaxy just northwest. Zwicky has yet another galaxy further on to the northwest. Neither this northwestern galaxy, nor the one to the southeast, appear to be interacting with the peculiar system in the middle. ===== IC 3129 is a star about 8 arcsec south of Schwassmann's position. The proper motion is relatively high; that may account for the relatively large scatter in the several estimated positions. ===== IC 3130 involves at least two stars, and probably a defect as well. It appears on Schwassmann's plate as "eF, pS, ?, 140 deg, li plan li". The last phrase decodes to "like an asteroid trail." The nominal position is between the two stars, and there are two other stars in the area which may also be part of the object that Schwassmann thought nebulous. ----- One of the stars I noted earlier is apparently a defect on the DSS1R plate at 12 18 49.75, +08 14 30.0 (UB10). It does not appear on DSS2 plates, nor in the Gaia, PS1, or SDSS. I've removed the entry (which I had called "I3130 nearby n *") from the position table. ===== IC 3131 = IC 3132, which see. ===== IC 3132 = IC 3131. Schwassmann's two positions are only ten arcseconds apart, not much larger than his standard deviation. Since he found the galaxy in two separate zones, it seems likely that he simply did not make the connection between the two listings, even though they ended up adjacent to each other in his table. ===== IC 3133 is most likely the wide triple star at Schwassmann's position. It matches his description ("eF, S, dif, alpha ::, delta :") pretty well, so I've taken it as his object. ===== IC 3135. Though I called this a "blended pair" earlier, the SDSS image makes it clear that the object is a single, distorted galaxy. It is indeed interacting, but with an irregular blue galaxy to the southwest. I've cleaned up the position table entries accordingly. My apologies to any whom I have misled in the meantime! The galaxy is just barely visible on the print of the original plate, and there are defects on either the print or the plate nearby. We really ought to look at the plate to confirm this one for sure. ===== IC 3138 is at least a double galaxy, and Frost's image may include the star close to the west. I've given positions for all, and assume that the star is a part of the IC object. Here is another one that needs to be checked on the original plate. ===== IC 3139 is a star close to Schwassmann's position. It is typical of some of the objects near the plate limit that he simply calls "eF, vS". His position, aside from the systematic offset (see IC 3048 above), is good. ===== IC 3140 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 3095 for more about the plate and print). ===== IC 3142 is probably the brighter of a pair, though we can't be sure without checking the original plate -- Frost's description ("R, bM, magn. 14.5") is not very informative. ===== IC 3145 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 3095 for more about the plate and print). ===== IC 3147, like IC 3142 (which see), is probably the brighter of a pair. However, it was found by Schwassmann rather than Frost. On the 6-inch plate, Schwassmann describes it as "vF, vS, like a star, probably nebulous", and puts the position between the two galaxies. Could there be a defect involved, too? So, while I'm inclined to take the brighter galaxy as IC 3147, I'm not at all sure. ===== IC 3158 is perhaps the star that I've flagged with a colon in the table, though there may well be a plate defect involved, too. Schwassmann's description reads "eF, cS, ??, alpha ::, delta ::". The double query means that Schwassmann was not sure of the object's reality. Combined with his uncertainty about the position, the fairly bright star is only a possibility. Indeed, Wolfgang has taken another fainter star to the north as the IC object. This could be right, too. Adelaide Ames and Dorothy Carlson have simply said that the object is a star, but we do not know which one they were looking at. It's a shame the original plate has gone missing. ===== IC 3160 is another star in Schwassmann's Virgo Cluster list, identified by his good position. ===== IC 3161 and IC 3162 are two stars, about 30 arcsec apart, which Schwassmann describes identically: "eF, vS, [perhaps] *". In a note attached to both, he goes on "I wonder if these are nebulous stars" (my free translation of his comment "in einer gemeinsamen Nebelhulle liegend"). His positions for both are very close to the modern positions, and the identities are sure. ===== IC 3162 is a star. See IC 3161. ===== IC 3163 may be the two stars that I've listed in the table, though they are pretty far from Schwassmann's position. Perhaps a defect is involved on the original plate, too. In any event, there are no galaxies nearby. Ames was the first to suggest the two stars, and Carlson picked this up for her 1940 ApJ list. ===== IC 3164 is a double star, seen, but not resolved, on the print of the original plate. Wolf's position angle is correct, and he notes that the object might be a double star, so that's what I've adopted. His position is good, too. ===== IC 3166 and IC 3180 are a pair found by Lewis Swift on 24 June 1897 during his several years observing from Echo Mountain north of Pasadena. Unfortunately, there is a large error in his positions for the nebulae as there is nothing within at least two degrees matching his descriptions: [IC 3166]: eeeF, S, 7 1/2 and 5 mag sts in field, p of 2. One of my faintest nebulae. [IC 3180]: vF, pL, R, 7 1/2 mag * south, f of 2. My own guess is that Swift rediscovered NGC 4284 and NGC 4290. His RA's would be fairly close (about 20 arcsec out), but his declinations would be 2 deg, 36 arcmin off. His relative brightnesses and sizes for the galaxies are correct, but I have trouble making the star field around the NGC galaxies match his description. There is a 6th magnitude star 14 arcmin south of NGC 4290; this may be his "7 1/2 mag * south" -- but where is that 5th magnitude star? I see no trace of it. Given that, I'm not even going to be putting the IC numbers in the position table with question marks. Similarly, Swift's nebulae could be NGC 3975 and NGC 3978. There, the Dec's are only 10.0 arcmin off, but the RA's are 24.5 minutes of time off. The two objects are closer together on the sky, though, and the problem of the star field remains. Here, there is a distinctive double star north of the galaxies, another of similar magnitude (about 10.5; I'm guessing here) west- southwest, and two brighter stars (9 and 7.5) east of the NGC objects. I also checked that one hour or ten degree errors were not involved. Nothing east or west, north or south, fits Swift's descriptions. I did not, however, check northeast, southeast, northwest, or southwest at these digit errors. In the end, I suspect the N4284/N4290 pair is what Swift actually saw, but ... ----- In March 2017, Gary Kronk did a search in an area of 20deg by 11deg centered on Swift's position for IC 3166. The closest matching field he found was that around NGC 4284 and NGC 4290. Based on his results, I've once again looked at the field and Swift's observations, but still can't make the stars match what we now see on the sky. The 6th magnitude star I mentioned earlier is 70 UMa -- the actual V is 5.5 -- and may actually be Swift's 5th magnitude star. But the brightest of the fainter stars in the field (assuming it is Swift's usual 33 arcminute field) are at V = 9.5. Even being generous with Swift's estimates, this is well below the "7 1/2 mag" that he states in his descriptions. So, I remain skeptical. However, I have put the NGC objects into the IC position file, with double queries, as potential candidates. For the record, Gary also suggested MCG +09-19-182 = PGC 36774 and MCG +09-19-190 = PGC 36805 as possibly being Swift's objects. These at least have two stars of approximately the correct magnitudes in the field, but the magnitudes and sizes of the galaxies of the galaxies are virtually identical. This is a clear mismatch with Swift's descriptions. Also the fainter of the stars is well to the southeast of the galaxies rather than straight south; and the brighter star is much closer to the preceding galaxy. Again, we have to stretch to match Swift's descripitions. Still a possibility, I suppose, but neither Gary nor I am convinced. ===== IC 3177 is almost certainly a defect on the Harvard plate on which Frost found it. The nominal position is in one of the overlap zones on the POSS1, so appears on eight different POSS1 plates -- not one shows a "F streak, ext 2.'5 at 45 deg" as Frost describes it. I searched for a similar object at reasonable RA and Dec offsets, but found nothing. So, even though I've not seen the original plate, I am quite certain that IC 3177 is a defect on it. Coincidentally, there is a defect on the DSS (but not on any of the POSS1 prints that I examined) just a few arcmin to the southwest of the nominal position. ===== IC 3178 is a star, probably with some extra plate grain mixed in with the image. It shows clearly on a contact positive print of the original plate, with IC 3179 (a galaxy) not very far to the southwest. The galaxy is sometimes called I3178, and a much fainter galaxy on a bit to the southwest is labeled I3179. However, there is no trace of this fainter galaxy on the print, while the brighter galaxy and the star are about equally bright and have similar sizes. ===== IC 3179. See IC 3178. ===== IC 3180 may be NGC 4290. See IC 3166 for the story. ===== IC 3181 = NGC 4286. Here is another case where neither Wolf nor Dreyer caught a pretty obvious identity. The NGC position is less than an arcminute from Wolf's (copied correctly into the IC), so there is no doubt about the identity. ===== IC 3182 is just two stars, probably with a defect or random plate grain adding the appearance of nebulosity. Schwassmann's description reads "vF, S, li[ke] 2 F ** surr[ounded by] nebulosity, alpha delta :". There is a third star about 25 arcsec to the south that may have been involved with the image, too. ===== IC 3183 is a star. I had written earlier that this "is a double star, perhaps connected to another star on the original plate by a defect or random grain noise? Schwassmann's position is close to the double, and the other star is less than an arcminute away. His description reads "vF, cS, perhaps 2 **, delta :". There is only one double in the area -- thus my lingering doubt about this." This is wrong. The star that I took for a double is, in fact, single. The second object, if that was what I was looking at, is a galaxy too faint to have appeared on Schwassmann's plate, taken as it was by a 6-inch telescope. I must have had some notion of this as I have only positions for the two single stars, not the galaxy. ===== IC 3190 is a star at Schwassmann's position. See IC 3009 for more information about Schwassmann's plate. ===== IC 3191 is a star at Schwassmann's position. ===== IC 3197 is a star at Wolf's position. It is faintly seen on the print of the original plate, perhaps with a defect superposed (see IC 3095 for more about the plate and print). ===== IC 3198 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate (see IC 3095 for more about the plate and print). ===== IC 3201 is a triple galaxy in a common corona at a redshift of 0.0687, with a background galaxy just to the southwest at z = 0.2117. The background galaxy has a faint Galactic star superposed on its southwestern side, and there are at least three other fainter objects -- probably galaxies and a star -- on to the south. None of this complexity is seen on the print of Wolf's plate, of course, so I've just called it "four galaxies", and provide positions for those four, and for the nearby star. All this may be seen on the SDSS image. ===== IC 3211 = "NGC 4307A". There is nothing wrong with the IC identification -- the galaxy is just where Schwassmann puts it. The NGC number comes from RNGC and is based on Holmberg's list of double and multiple galaxies where it is number 380b. NGC 4307 is Holmberg 380a. This is another reason why I don't like suffixes. ===== IC 3213 is 40 arcsec north of Wolf's position. The identification is clinched by his mention of the "* 12 att np". The galaxy and the star, as well as several other galaxies in the area, are all visible on the print of Wolf's plate. Unfortunately, Wolf's marks are missing from this plate, but there is no doubt that he saw the galaxy and simply made a mistake in reducing its position. I do wonder, though, why he did not list some of the other galaxies; they are well seen. I've listed the nearest two as companions of the IC galaxy. ===== IC 3214 is a star. It is at Wolf's position on the print of his plate, unmarked as are all of the objects on this plate. Wolfgang took a much fainter galaxy about an arcminute away; I did not see it on the print. ===== IC 3215. The nucleus is eccentric and quite stellar. The SDSS spectrum, however, leaves no doubt that it is, in fact, the nucleus and not a superposed star. ===== IC 3217. Based on its appearance on the Sky Survey print and the DSS, I had called this a galaxy and a star. However, it is clearly a double galaxy on the DSS2 images, and on the SDSS. The nucleus of the northwestern galaxy is a bit eccentric, suggesting that the two galaxies are interacting. They are indeed at the same redshift, z = 0.0505, according to the SDSS spectra. ===== IC 3218 is described by Schwassmann as "Very faint, pretty large, extended, two nuclei, real??, RA and Dec uncertain." His position is also northeast of the galaxy, so the IC number pretty clearly includes the star 25 arcsec in that direction from the galaxy's center. ===== IC 3223 may be a defect on Schwassmann's plate. He says of it, "vF, pS, alpha :, delta :, am[ong] 3 vF sts." The three faint stars are clear on the sky today, and two of them have been taken as the IC object in various lists. Ames picked one (but did not give a position), Wolfgang has a position for his choice, and I have all three listed in the main table. I also give a mean position for them, suggesting that Schwassmann's object, whatever it might have been, is somewhere nearby. The problem, of course, with chosing any of these stars is that Schwassmann mentions them explicitly -- his IC object is not any of them. If his plate still exists (it seems doubtful that it does), we could check the object there. ===== IC 3224 is almost certainly the dwarf irregular galaxy and the star just north near Frost's position. He says only "R, bM, magn. 14.5". Since he was working with a 24-inch Bruce plate, the two objects are almost surely merged on it. The galaxy has a group of three bright blue knots on its east end; the position I've given for the galaxy itself is somewhat west of the knots. ===== IC 3226 is probably just the star at Wolf's position. But there is another star about 20 arcsec to the southwest that may be involved with the object, too. Unfortunately, this is one of Wolf's objects for which his ink marks have been removed from his plate, so we can only verify that the stars are in fact present on it, not which one -- or both -- he meant to be his nebula. I've chosen to take just the one star nearest the nominal position, but have left the other in the big table with a query just to let you know that I have, in fact, given it some consideration. ===== IC 3229 is often taken as the low surface brightness late-type galaxy (UGC 7448) 14 seconds of time following IC 3225 (= UGC 7441). However, Schwassmann's position and description make this unlikely. His position puts I3229 only 5 seconds of time following I3225, and he notes the object as being "on the edge of perceptibility." Furthermore, he found I3229 on just one plate, while I3225 appeared on two. All of this is enough to make me question the usual identification and suggest that Schwassmann's object is actually a defect or no more than random grain clumping. ===== IC 3230. Wolf mentions "2 simil sf"; both are visible on the print of the original plate. The first of these is indeed a galaxy, very compact in the center, but with a faint ring. The second of Wolf's objects is a star. I have positions for both in the big table. ===== IC 3232 is a star. I've not yet searched for it on the print of Wolf's plate, but his positions are good, and the star is right there. ===== IC 3234. I had earlier supposed that this was simply a double galaxy. But on the DSS2 and SDSS images, it is clearly a triple with a red star superposed on the eastern edge of the eastern galaxy. The two brightest galaxies have the same redshift (z = 0.0679); the fainter southern galaxy appears to be connected to the eastern by a bridge. There are other still fainter galaxies in the area which I suspect are mostly background objects. ===== IC 3236 is an optical pair of galaxies. The nearer of the two is the larger northwestern component at z = 0.0539, while the fainter southeastern galaxy is at z = 0.1608. ===== IC 3245 is a defect on the Harvard Bruce plate. Ames looked for the nebula on the same plate a quarter of a century after Frost found it, and found that it is, in fact, a defect. Frost himself suspected that, but put it in his list, anyway. I see no trace of the double star that Carlson credits to a Mt. Wilson observer (probably Hubble). ===== IC 3246. Though there is a galaxy at Schwassmann's position, it does not match his description ("eF, pL, li[ke a] li[ne] 145 deg, ?, alpha::, delta::". In particular, the galaxy is very small and round, so I suspect that there is a plate defect superposed on the original plate. ===== IC 3248, 3249, 3250, and 3251 are four of "about 18 pretty definite nebulae, [forming a] long chain from south to north" on the plate which Wolf examined to find the nebulae in his fourth list. Of these four nebulae, only one (IC 3249) is a galaxy, and the other "nebulae" in the chain are either stars or defects. There is a defect involved with IC 3249, and all of the several fainter objects around it are far too faint to show up on Wolf's plate. This is definitely a case where Wolf pushed his plate limit too hard. ===== IC 3249. See IC 3248. ===== IC 3250 is a star. See IC 3248 for more. ===== IC 3251 is a star. See IC 3248 for more. ===== IC 3252 is a double star. Like most of the objects in Wolf's fourth list, it is not marked on the print of his plate that I have. However, both stars are visible on the print, and are surrounded by three brighter stars, so it is understandable why Wolf noted it as a possible cluster. ===== IC 3254 = NGC 4336 is the most likely explanation for the IC number. However, there is some doubt about this. Here is the story. The object was discovered by Royal Frost on an Arequipa Bruce 24-inch plate (number 6719, taken the night of 9 May 1904), and is included in his list in HA60 as number 884. He gives a position of 12 18.5 +20 01 (1900) which is northeast of NGC 4336 by about 2.5 arcmin. It falls within an arcminute of a 14th magnitude star. However, Frost does not mention NGC 4336 anywhere in the section of the paper devoted to his nebulae. In this respect, N4336 is included in the large majority of NGC objects that were just where he expected to find them. In particular, he does not include N4336 in his list of missing NGC objects. Also, his description is "Plan[etary], R, B, d 0.4'." Because the inner bright part of N4336 is over an arcmin across and is clearly not round -- though it is clearly bright! -- Frost's description does not fit the galaxy very well. So, it is possible that he was actually describing the star, perhaps with a defect superposed (this could, of course, be checked on the Harvard plate which surely still exists in their collection). On the other hand, Adelaide Ames -- in her Virgo Cluster catalogue in HA 88, No. 1 -- adopted the identity and gives it explicitly in her Table 1. For this object, she used the same plate that Frost searched 30 years before (Arequipa Bruce plate no. 6719), and she found no other objects within at least 10 arcmin of her position for N4336 (she adopted the NGC position which is a bit off). Since Ames was a meticulous astronomer (Shapley greatly missed her careful work after her tragically early death by drowning), I'm giving a considerable amount of weight to her decision to make the two objects identical. CGCG and MCG come to the same conclusion, though using only the data presented in the NGC and IC; they almost certainly did not have access to the original plate on which the IC object was found. So, I've provisionally accepted the identity -- but have also added the star to the position list as a possible candidate for the IC object. ----- In principle, the plate on which this object was discovered will eventually be scanned as part of the DASCH (Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard) project. However, as of early March 2018, it apparently had not. Someday ... ===== IC 3256 = NGC 4342, IC 3259, IC 3260 = NGC 4341, and IC 3267. Though the IC identifications in this group of five galaxies are not ambiguous, the NGC identifications have been. See the discussion under NGC 4341, and in RC3 (the Introduction, page 60; and Appendix 6, page 551). ===== IC 3257 is one of Bigourdan's "fausse images." He has one observation of it in April of 1895, calling it a "Trace of nebulosity nearly completely unseeable." In May of 1907, he said, "I can once in a while see this eF object," but made no measurement of it. There is nothing in his position. Malcolm pointed out that the declination of Bigourdan's comparison star is incorrect in the big table of observations. Nevertheless, the position in the IC is reduced correctly, so this is just a typo. Malcolm also points out that the object at Bigourdan's position seen on the red POSS1 -- thus also on DSS -- is a defect. It is not on the blue POSS1, nor is it on the POSS2. ===== IC 3259. See NGC 4341. ===== IC 3260 = NGC 4341, which see. ===== IC 3261 is probably one of two galaxies near Frost's position. I favor the smaller but brighter one because it matches his description -- "Sp., F * at center, d 1', doubtful" -- better than the larger, low-surface-brightness galaxy to the northeast. In particular, the "F * at center" is missing in the larger galaxy. But that object is closer to Frost's diameter of 1 arcmin. There are other fainter galaxies in the field, but I doubt that any of these would be bright enough to register on the 24-inch Bruce plate. In any case, we're stuck until we can examine Frost's plate. ===== IC 3263. Wolf notes "2d [sic] fainter sp, att". This second object is actually a double star. ===== IC 3264 is a blended image on the print of the original plate, including a star and two galaxies, one very faint that may not have contributed to the original image. I include it, anyway. ===== IC 3265 is a star clearly identified by Schwassmann's good position from a 6-inch Heidelburg plate. However, CGCG put the number on NGC 4353, and we've had trouble with it ever since. Well, it's sorted out now. Actually, Adelaide Ames sorted it out in 1930, and we're just now catching up to her. ===== IC 3266 = NGC 4353, which see. There is no problem with the IC identification -- at least there wasn't until CGCG put it, along with IC 3265 and NGC 4353 on the galaxy. See the other numbers for the short story. ===== IC 3267. See NGC 4341. ===== IC 3269 is a galaxy and a neighboring star to the east. The image is clearly elongated east-west on the print of the original plate. Wolf's position is 17 arcseconds too far south, but there is nothing at all in his place, and he notes "diffic meas". ===== IC 3270 is one of the SB(rs)ab galaxies with very bright knots at the ends of the bar where that intersects the partial ring. This misled me to say earlier that the galaxy was actually a pair -- it's not. ===== IC 3272. Wolf's declination is actually that of his "* 13 att n", but the identity of his galaxy is clear. It is also clearly seen on the print of his plate, though as with all the other nebulae he found on this plate, it is now not marked. ===== IC 3273 = NGC 4356. Here is another case where Schwassmann missed the NGC number on one of the nebulae that he measured on a Heidelberg plate. Both his position and WH's are good, so Dreyer had an opportunity to equate them, too. The identity was first suggested by Adelaide Ames in her 1930 Virgo Cluster catalogue. ===== IC 3279 is two stars, oriented very nearly east-west. Schwassmann describes his object as "pF or pB, S, perhaps 2 stars, p 11.8, f 10.8". While his magnitudes are estimates, the eastern star is indeed the brighter and thus secures the identification. ===== IC 3281 may well be a defect. There is nothing at either of Schwassmann's positions (only a few arcsec apart). Even though he has two measurements of the object, they are probably just that: two measurements on a single plate, referred to comparison stars in different zones across the plate. The object is unlikely to be the faint star that Wolfgang chose if only because it is almost two arcmin away from the nominal position. Schwassmann's descriptions make it unlikely in any case: "pB, cS, R, N, li[ke] *" and "cB, pS, R, li * 10-9, d = 25 [arcsec]". This would be an obvious object, and there is just nothing in the area like this. It could also be another Virgo Cluster galaxy with a measurement or reduction error. I think this is less likely as both of Schwassmann's positions are within his usual errors of being identical -- but they ARE different. I do not see any galaxy that is likely to be Schwassmann's object that is not already in his list. In particular, NGC 4365 is exactly 30 arcmin south, and NGC 4470 is 5m 10s east and 10 arcsec north. But he already lists both, so I do not think that I3281 is either one of them. So, another lost nebula. ===== IC 3282 is a star. Wolf's position is good, and I have no doubt that the object will show up on the print of his plate. ===== IC 3285 is a star at Wolf's position. His note reads, "in long dif Neby", but the "nebulosity" is nothing more than a few stars and a defect. All are seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3287. When I went over the field in the 1990s, I had this pegged as a star and a galaxy. However, checking the print of the original plate carefully against the DSS2R image, I'm convinced now that I was wrong -- Wolf's object is indeed just the galaxy. He notes, "in dif Neby"; there are some very faint plate defects in the area that he may be writing about. ===== IC 3290. See NGC 3260. ===== IC 3295 is a star. Earlier, I had called this a plate defect. But looking more closely at the print of the original plate, and at Wolf's list, I am now convinced that the star that Wolfgang chose is actually Wolf's object. Wolf compares it to the nearby NGC 4375, saying that the two objects are equal in brightness, and that the NGC galaxy is larger than the IC object. The "defect" that I saw here appears to be little more than random plate grain. So what about the difference in position? The star has a high proper motion (-113 mas/yr in RA and +11 mas/yr in Dec); moved back to the epoch of Wolf's plate (23 March 1903), the star's position will be close to Wolf's listed place. Here, for the record, is my earlier note: "[This] is a plate defect on Wolf's original plate. It actually covers the star that Wolfgang chose as the IC object, but is centered enough off it to make it clearly a defect. It is also surrounded by an annulus darker than the sky background in the area. It is clearly seen on the print of the original plate." I was obviously seeing here what I wanted to, over-interpreting the faint clues on the print, and ignoring the big ones in front of my nose. ===== IC 3297 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of Wolf's plate, though it is unmarked, as are all the nebulae found by Wolf on this plate. Wolf has the note "neb N in pL dif Neby". The "nebulosity" involved here is random plate grain, faint neighboring stars, and perhaps a couple of nearby galaxies as well. Wolfgang chose one of them as the IC object, but the star is easily seen on the print of the original plate, while the galaxy is lost in the plate grain. ===== IC 3301 = IC 3307. The identity was first noticed by Ames who presumeably checked it on the Bruce plates, numbers A6718 and A6720, on which Frost found the nebulae. Even without her note in HA 88-1, we would be quite sure of the identity as the galaxy sits between Frost's two positions, and is the only one in the area bright enough to have been picked up by him. ===== IC 3304 is a ring galaxy similar to NGC 985. The position is for the nucleus, the northern of the two knots on the east side of the ring. My previous identification included the southern part of the ring and the nearest of two stars to the south as part of the IC number. Neither is clear on the print of the original plate, so I have renamed the objects to reflect the relationship of each to the ring itself. ===== IC 3310 is a star superposed on the northwestern arm of NGC 4396. However, Bigourdan has an incorrect position for his comparison star listed in his big table. This led to an incorrect RA in his CR list and the IC. When the position is corrected (his approximate offsets of his comparison star from NGC 4379 ARE correct), the object turns out to be the star on the arm of NGC 4396. He has four observations of the star which pin it down precisely. Curiously, Bigourdan measured NGC 4396 itself on the same night using the same comparison star about two arcminutes northeast of the center of the galaxy. Yet he somehow confused the field so that IC 3310 was taken to be another star nearly 45 seconds of time away by both the Harvard and Mt. Wilson observers. ===== IC 3318 is a star at Schwassmann's position. ===== IC 3319 is perhaps = NGC 4390 = IC 3320. Found by Schwassmann on his 6-inch plate of the Virgo Cluster area, this does not exist -- or is identical with IC 3320 = NGC 4390. Though there is a faint star less than an arcminute west-southwest of Schwassmann's position, this does not match his description which is identical to that for N4390 (which Schwassmann did not name as the NGC object, by the way). Is it possible that he made an error in his measurement reductions for the IC objects? They occur in different declination zones in his list, so this is a possibility. ===== IC 3320 = NGC 4390, which see. Also see IC 3319. ===== IC 3323 is a star superposed on the southwestern side of NGC 4393 (the CGCG has it equal to the galaxy along with IC 3329, which see, but this is wrong). Wolf's position is very close to the star, and though his markings have been removed from his plate, the object is there on the print of the plate that I examined. ===== IC 3324 is a galaxy with a star very close to the southwest. The images are completely merged on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3329 is a knot in NGC 4393, east of the nucleus. It is visible on the print of Wolf's plate that I examined, but his marks have been scrubbed off the plate. Neverthless, the identification is secure. CGCG has this (along with I3323, a star superposed on NGC 4393, both of which see) equal to N4393 itself, but this is wrong. ===== IC 3332 is a galaxy with a star very close to the northwest. As with IC 3324, the images are completely merged on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3333 is a star just north of NGC 4402. Schwassmann's position is very good, and his description "vF, vS, perhaps * 13.8" is appropriate. ===== IC 3334 may be just the galaxy, or it may also include the star to the south. The image on the print of the original plate is elongated north-south and clearly includes both star and galaxy. There is a fainter star to the east, but I do not see any trace of it on the print. Until the original plate can be examined, I will keep both the southern star and the galaxy as parts of the IC object -- but note that I could well be wrong. ===== IC 3335. There is another somewhat brighter galaxy about an arcmin to the north-northwest that has sometimes been taken as IC 3335. However, not only is Wolf's position precisely on the fainter object, the brighter one appears stellar on the contact print of Wolf's original plate. The fainter one is just barely there on the print, and there appears to be a defect covering part of it. Perhaps the brighter object is Wolf's intended one and he has some small measuring error or reduction mistake that led him to a wrong position. By the way, in spite of my mistaken earlier belief that IC 3335 itself is a star, the DSS2 images are clearly elongated and show it to be a very compact galaxy. In the SDSS, both galaxies have essentially the same redshift, so they form a physical pair. ===== IC 3339 = NGC 4411. Here is another obvious identity that might have come about because neither Dreyer nor Schwassmann checked the NGC carefully (there are several of these in Schwassmann's list -- see e.g. IC 3098 and IC 3113 -- and I expect we'll turn up a few more before we're done). However, in this case, Dreyer was distracted by Bigourdan's discovery of a second object nearby. Dreyer's Note in IC2 tells what happened next: "[NGC] 4411 I assume that B. 298, 12h 19m 40s, 80d 21m, vF, L, 2.5 arcmin is identical with this." (See NGC 4411 for more on Bigourdan 298.) I'm actually puzzled by this because the NGC and IC positions for N4411 and I3339 are almost identical, differing by only one second of time and 0.2 arcmin. Why should Dreyer choose another object 17 seconds of time away when he had an obvious candidate in the same place? Just the distraction, I presume. Or, as I've suggested elsewhere in these notes, Dreyer was getting tired of cataloguing nebulae, and was not paying as much attention as he might have earlier in his career. As far as I can tell, Adelaide Ames was the first to suggest this identity. In any case, Schwassmann's description -- "* 11, north-following [is] surrounded by much nebulosity" -- is appropriate, and makes clear that he was indeed seeing the galaxy. ===== IC 3342 is a star, confirmed on the print of the original plate. See IC 3095 for more about the plate. ===== IC 3343 is perhaps the star that I've included in the position table. It is just east of NGC 4411 = IC 3339 (which see). There are two other brighter stars that might have been involved, though, as might the eastern reaches of NGC 4411 itself. Schwassmann's position is not particularly close to any of the three stars (I've taken the nearest, though it is the faintest), and his object could well be a blend of any two or even all of them. His description "eF, vS, ??, alpha delta ::" is not too helpful, either. Is there perhaps a defect involved? The original plate would help, but it may no longer exist. ===== IC 3345 is a galaxy, not a star as I had mistakenly called it earlier. It is, however, a very compact object, and appears almost stellar on the DSS1. ===== IC 3350. There is a pretty bright star at Schwassmann's position (matching his description "perhaps * 10-11, sp surr m n"), but there must have been a defect involved, too. How else can we explain his comment "southwest [it is] surrounded by m[uch] n[ebulosity]" that he adds? There is nothing on the DSS aside from the star, so I am pretty confident about the defect. An aside: I see from the big table that I had called this a merged double star at one point. That was a mistake. There is no trace of a companion on the DSS2 or the SDSS images. This is a single star. ===== IC 3351 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. Wolfgang took a brighter star to the southwest as the IC object, but that is just as clearly stellar on the plate. ===== IC 3352 may be a defect on Schwassmann's plate. There is nothing at his position. NGC 4411B is almost straight north -- but by 7 arcmin, 37 arcsec. Unless this is a unit (or ten, or 100) in Schwassmann's measuring system, I don't think Bigourdan's object is the one Schwassmann measured. Similarly, there is a small, faint galaxy 6.0 sec west, and 1 arcmin 5 arcsec south. I think this has a better chance of being the correct object, but I'm still not betting on it. We obviously need to check the plate, if it still exists (which, we are told, does not). ===== IC 3353. Wolf's RA is 3 seconds of time too small. But there is nothing in that place and the galaxy is clearly seen on the print of the original plate, so the published RA is due to some error. ===== IC 3354 is a star at Schwassmann's position. This is in keeping with his description, "eF, S, ?, alpha :, delta :". ===== IC 3360 is a star at Wolf's position. I've confirmed the object on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3361. While there is nothing at Frost's position, there are two obvious candidates for this number. Unfortunately, neither galaxy is the outstanding choice. One, a large low-surface-brightness dwarf spiral five seconds west and an arcmin north, matches Adelaide Ames's diameter and magnitudes in her 1930 Virgo Cluster catalogue (she worked from the same plates that Frost used 30 years earlier). But was this really the galaxy that she and Frost measured? Five seconds east at the nominal declination is a much smaller galaxy -- but it has a much higher surface brightness so might be picked up more easily in spite of its size. In the end, I slightly favor the larger galaxy, but we'll have to take a look at the Harvard plate to be sure. ===== IC 3366 is a faint galaxy just south of NGC 4424. Schwassmann made some error in his measurement or reduction of it and a nearby star -- both are just 4.0 seconds west and 15 arcsec south of his positions. His description of the galaxy is appropriate: "vF, vS, nf surr m n". The last bit "translates" as something like "surrounded by much nebulosity north-following." (He uses the same phrase to describe IC 3339 = NGC 4411, which see, where the description is a bit more apt because of the star superposed on the galaxy.) Whatever happened, I am confident of the identification because of the note about the "nebulosity" to the northeast. This is clearly a reference to NGC 4424. ===== IC 3372. Earlier, I had this as "a star with a superposed defect at Wolf's position. It shows clearly on the print of the original plate." Indeed it does, but it is, in fact, a compact galaxy. It is flanked by two much fainter galaxies. There is also another galaxy of similar brightness to the IC object just to the northeast; it also shows well on the print, but Wolf does not mention it. ===== IC 3375 is a star. It is close to Wolf's measured position and is clearly seen on the print of the original plate. Wolfgang mistakenly chose a nearby galaxy as the IC object. This, too, appears on the print of the original plate, but is smaller and fainter than the star Wolf measured. It appears stellar on the print, so Wolf must have skipped over it, thinking it a star. ===== IC 3389 is an optical double galaxy at Wolf's position. There are two other galaxies to the north of the brightest western galaxy, but they are very faint and probably do not contribute anything to the image on the original plate; they certainly are not on the print of the plate that I examined. When I went over the field earlier with the POSS1, I called the eastern galaxy a star. This is wrong -- it is a galaxy with a redshift of 0.149 according to the SDSS spectrum. The western galaxy has a redshift of 0.127. ===== IC 3396. Once again, an object that I called a star based on my work on POSS1 or DSS1 has turned out to be a galaxy (see e.g. IC 3389 for another). Better plate material ... Wolf notes "similar fainter n". Dreyer interpreted this in the plural "others n". There are in fact three fainter galaxies to the north; I've put them into the table even though only the brighter two are faintly visible on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3398 is a star a few seconds west of Schwassmann's position. He describes it as "cF, S or vS"; this is appropriate for the star and there is nothing else nearby that fits better. ===== IC 3399 is a star at Wolf's position. It appears on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3400 is a fairly bright star at Schwassmann's position. His description "cB, cS, li[ke] * 10" is appropriate. The identity was first suggested by Adelaide Ames and picked up by the Mt. Wilson observers for Dorothy Carlson's list, too. ===== IC 3402 is a nice edgewise galaxy just about an arcmin south-southeast of a pretty bright star. Wolf's position is about 15 arcsec too far north (along the major axis of the galaxy, still well within its image), but otherwise his data for the galaxy is appropriate. Even though this is one of the northern- most galaxies on his plate, well into the vignetted area of the plate, it is still clearly seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3404 is probably a defect on Schwassmann's original plate. There is no trace of a "cB, cS, li * 10-11, surrounded by much nebulosity" galaxy in the area. There are also no galaxies at reasonable digit errors from Schwassmann's published position. The only possibility is NGC 4464, but that is not exactly one degree north, and Schwassmann has an entry for it, in any case. ===== IC 3408 is a pretty bright star (10 magnitude) at Schwassmann's position. His description ("neb or *, B, li * 9.2-9.5") is appropriate. ===== IC 3415 is a star found by Max Wolf on one of the plates he took early in the 20th century at Heidelberg. The position he measured is good, and the star is clear on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3416. Based on its appearance on DSS1 images, Wolfgang and I suggested that this blue dwarf might be a merged double galaxy. On the DSS2 images, and the SDSS, this looks unlikely -- it seems to be a normal dwarf Magellanic irregular in the Virgo Cluster. ===== IC 3417 is a star about 2.3 arcmin north of NGC 4470. It is often incorrectly equated with the galaxy (Adelaide Ames was apparently the first to do this), but Schwassmann's position is exactly on the star. In addition, his description "eF, vS, ?*" fits perfectly. Finally, Schwassmann has two other entries in his list for NGC 4470, both correctly identified as the NGC object. ===== IC 3420 is a star north and just a bit west of NGC 4473. Schwassmann's position is off by a few arcsec, perhaps affected by the corona of the galaxy. ===== IC 3423 is a star close to Schwassmann's position a few arcminutes west- northwest of NGC 4477. His measured position is within 5-6 arcsec of the star, yet both the Harvard and Mt. Wilson observers listed I3423 as "not found." Dreyer copied the position correctly into IC2. ===== IC 3426 is a star about 2 arcmin south of NGC 4477. Schwassmann's position is about 10 arcsec north of the star, perhaps -- like IC 3420 -- confused a bit by the corona of the galaxy. ===== IC 3427 = NGC 4482. William Herschel's RA is 30 seconds of time too large. Dreyer has a note about this in WH's Collected Papers. This is not an isolated error, as Dreyer adds "... same sweep as the last three, 174." The "last three" are the previous third class objects seen in the sweep, all with RA's too large by up to a minute of time, and referring to a general note under H II 64 = NGC 4352. Apparently most of the objects in the sweep are affected by the same error. Curiously, even though both Bigourdan and Dreyer noted WH's position error, Dreyer did not make the connection with IC 3427. That was left for Ames and Carlson. ===== IC 3428 is a star. Wolf's position is good, though his image may include the fainter star (not a double star or faint galaxy as I had it earlier) about 20 arcsec to the north. ===== IC 3435. What appears at first sight to be a faint, stellar nucleus is shown to probably be a superposed F9 star by the SDSS spectrum. We can't be quite sure, however, since the object's velocity is -54 +- 4 km/s. In any other part of the sky, this would certainly be a superposed star. But at least a dozen galaxies in the direction of the Virgo Cluster have negative redshifts. This may well be one of them. The positions for the galaxy from the catalogues and scans are probably influenced by the star. The actual center of the galaxy seems to be just a few arcseconds southeast of the star, so I've taken the SDSS position, the most southeasterly from those available. ===== IC 3438 = NGC 4492. Schwassmann has two entries for the galaxy in his table, but from different plates. The descriptions are comparable, and the positions are about 10 arcsec different, but still within the boundaries of the image of the galaxy. The identity was first suggested by Adelaide Ames in her Virgo Cluster list of the 1930's. It was picked up by the de Vaucouleurs for RC1, and also by Zwicky, Herzog, and Wild for CGCG. Wolfgang adopted the identity for his list, and Bob Erdmann also noticed the identity. He alerted me, and I have finally got the two galaxies equated here. Sometimes, it takes more than a village. ===== IC 3444. During my earlier sweep across this, I commented, "[This] is a double star, easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate." Well, it is indeed visible on the plate, but the star is determinedly single on all the images that show it. I suspect I was confusing it for the double star 8 time-seconds west and 15 arcseconds north (this is lost in plate grain on the print). My apologies! ===== IC 3450. Wolf's position is 44 arcsec north of the true position. The galaxy's image is on the print of his plate at the correct position, so this suggests that he has made a measurement or reduction error. His description is appropriate for the object, and there are no others nearby that match, so there is little reason not to accept the identification. ===== IC 3452 = NGC 4497. There is no doubt about this identity. As with several other of Schwassmann's objects, the only doubt is why both he and Dreyer missed the identity with the NGC object. Both the IC and NGC positions are near the modern position for the galaxy. Furthermore, Schwassmann has two accordant measurements and descriptions for the galaxy. The only difference with the image on the DSS is the position angle: Schwassmann gives 100 degrees, while the outer isophotes of the galaxy are closer to 70 degrees. However, the bright inner part is closer to Schwassmann's PA, suggesting that his plates showed only this piece of the galaxy. It's also possible that he got the quadrant wrong, and that he meant to write 80 degrees instead of 100. ===== IC 3456. There is nothing on the DSS, but the print of the original plate has a defect at Wolf's position. It is pretty subtle, and I missed it the first time I went over the field, but it matches Wolf's description, especially his comment "?? l[ong]". ===== IC 3463 is a wide double star, or perhaps just the northern of the two. Schwassmann's position is closer to the northern, but his description includes the position angle (40 deg) appropriate to both stars. I've opted to call the double IC 3463, but have included the two stars separately as well. ===== IC 3464 is a star with a defect superposed on the print of the original plate (the defect may be on the original plate as well). The image is elongated, so it is not surprising that Wolf mistook it for a faint nebula. ===== IC 3477 is a star. Its image is pretty clearly seen on the print of Wolf's original plate, though there seem to be some plate defects -- or random clumps of plate grain -- in the area, too. Wolf's declination is a bit off, but there is nothing exactly at his position, so I am pretty sure that this is the object that he meant to include in his list. ===== IC 3480 is a double star. Not only is Wolf's position exactly on the stars, but his position angle for them is correct, too. Since there is no other object near this that meets the description, the identification is firm. Note that the MOL identification of this with IC 3490 is a typo; IC 3490 is sixteen degrees south in the Virgo Cluster. ===== IC 3485 is another star, identified by Schwassmann's good position measured on his plate of the Virgo Cluster. ===== IC 3490. See IC 3480. ===== IC 3493 is probably a star. The situation is odd: Schwassmann has accurate positions for IC 3487 just west of IC 3493, and for a star just east. These agree to within a few arcsec of the modern positions. However, for IC 3493 itself, Schwassmann's position is 2 seconds of time east, and 12 arcsec south of the star that he perhaps measured. Is there a defect superposed that pulled his position off? We may never know, as his plates are reported to be missing from the plate vaults in Heidelberg. ===== IC 3495 is a star at Wolf's position. This is my third try at this; my second had it as a blended double star. It is clearly a single star on all the recent survey images. My earliest idea, unfortunately copied into MOL, that this is KUG 1231+270 a couple of arcmin southeast, is incorrect. Forgive me; I was young and naive. ===== IC 3496 is a star, blended with a defect. Though Wolf's position is well north of the position of the star, there is nothing exactly at his position on the print of the original plate. Furthermore, the star image is elongated on the print of his plate, and is quite eye-catching compared with the simple stars in the field. My earlier identification of this with IC 3498 (copied into MOL) is wrong; Wolf's positions are very good, and his description of I3498 makes it unmistakable. ===== IC 3497 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3498 is not a star as I had surmised earlier. Wolf's position and description unequivocally point at the correct galaxy, a highly inclined (early-type?) spiral. The image is easily seen on the print of the original plate. Unfortunately, MOL copied my earlier mistaken identity. Sorry about that. (Also see IC 3496.) ===== IC 3502. Wolf's position is significantly south of the position of the galaxy. There is a faint star just south-following the galaxy which is blended into the galaxy image on the original Heidelberg plate; only a single image is visible on the contact print of this plate. This pulled the center of the image south, and also accounts for Wolf's classification of "irregular." ===== IC 3503 is a star. It was the last object found by Javelle on 13 June 1896, a relatively productive night for him -- he found six galaxies as well as this star. Given its faintness, I was a bit skeptical about the identification, first suggested by Wolfgang. But there is no galaxy nearby that Javelle could have seen, nor are there any at sign-error offsets from his comparison star. Nor are there any other star galaxy pairs in the area that have the correct offsets and brightnesses. Finally, Javelle has no significant systematic error in his measurements for the night that might lead to a galaxy. So, by a process of elimination, we come back to the star. Reducing Javelle's measurements with respect to the AC 2000.2 position for his comparison star, his position for the faint star is just 7 arcseconds off the position I measured on DSS. This is just about Javelle's standard deviation, his "one- sigma error", so I am taking the star as his object with no further complaint. ===== IC 3504 is a star. Schwassmann notes "near * 10"; that brighter star is 1.0 arcminutes north. ===== IC 3511, 3512, and 3513 are faint stars involved with plate grain on Wolf's plate. All are seen as faint "nebulae" on the print of that plate. On the DSS and POSS1, IC 3511 has a very faint galaxy just to the west of the star, but this is not visible on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3512. See IC 3511. ===== IC 3513. See IC 3511. ===== IC 3514. This is a double star, confirmed on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3524 is a star with a fainter star about 30 arcsec to the southwest. Schwassmann's position is good. ===== IC 3526 is a double star. It is clearly seen, though only as a single object, on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3527 is also a double star. And like IC 3526, it is clearly seen, also as a single object, on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 3529 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3532 is a double star. When I looked at this years ago on the POSS1 prints and on the DSS (also POSS1), I said, "[This] is a star blended with the image of a fainter object just west. I think that the western object is a galaxy, but cannot tell for sure on DSS." On the DSS2 image, and especially on the SDSS, this is clearly a double star. On the print of Wolf's original plate, this appears as a single object. ===== IC 3534. Though Frost's RA is 22 seconds of time off, more than twice the usual error (between 1 and 2 arcmin) that we usually associate with his positions, the identification is pretty secure. There are no galaxies closer to the nominal position that might be Frost's object, and this one matches his description well enough. ===== IC 3535 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3537 is another star in Schwassmann's list identified by his good position. There are two other stars flanking it to the northwest (brighter) and to the south (fainter), but Schwassmann does not mention either of these. ----- Puzzled by my position table entries when I went back over them in March 2018, I found that the entry for "I3537" refers to the star that I originally identified as IC 3537. "I3537 two stars" includes a second star about 30 arcseconds south-southeast that I called "I3537 nearby * s". Is it possible that Schwassmann's image included this star, too? Probably not, but I've included it to cover the possibility. Finally, "I3537 nearby * nw" is a brighter star about an arcminute to the northwest. As I implied above, I do not think that this plays any role in Schwassmann's object. ===== IC 3538 is a star at Wolf's position. His description ("S, eF") is appropriate, too, and the star is clear on the print of his original plate. ===== IC 3539 is a star. It is clearly seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3541 is a star very close to Wolf's position. Wolfgang took the fainter star just southeast in his first sweep through the IC. This is not on the print of Wolf's plate while the brighter star is. ===== IC 3544 is a double star exactly at Schwassmann's position, and matches his description pretty well: "cF, vS or S, ph * 12.5" ("ph" = perhaps). His magnitude estimates tend to be too bright by 2 or 3 magnitudes -- the double is more like 15. ===== IC 3545 = NGC 4555, which see. ===== IC 3547 is a star, probably with a plate defect superposed. The defect is faint enough that it does not show well on the print of the original plate, though the star is easily seen. Wolf's marks are no longer on this plate, but his description reads "little extended, [PA =] 70 [degrees]." His position is within 5 arcsec of the star, so there is little doubt about at least that part of the image. ===== IC 3549 is a star. As with I3547, Wolf's discovery plate has been wiped clean of his marks, but the position points very closely to the star -- which is easily seen on the plate -- and Wolf's description (vF, vS) is appropriate for the object. ===== IC 3550 is an HII region in NGC 4559, easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 3554. ===== IC 3551 is an HII region in NGC 4559, easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 3554. ===== IC 3552 is an HII region in a star cloud in NGC 4559. It is clear on the print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 3554. ===== IC 3553 is a star at Wolf's position. Though no longer marked on the discovery plate, Wolf's description (vF, vS) is appropriate, too. ===== IC 3554 is a star superposed on NGC 4559. It is near several HII regions in NGC 4559, but is clearly a foreground star on the modern survey images. It looks nearly identical to them on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3555 is a complex of HII regions in NGC 4559, easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. The position I've chosen is for the brightest knot. ===== IC 3556 is one of the galaxies in the NGC 4556 group. So, even though Wolf's photographic position in his 4th Konigstuhl Nebel-List is exact, CGCG, MCG, UGC, and PGC have all ignored the number in favor of NGC 4563, NGC 4558, NGC "4536" (typo for 4563), and NGC 4558 (again), respectively. Wolf identified the NGC galaxies correctly, too, giving good positions for them, so we can be certain that IC 3556 is a "nova." See NGC 4558 and NGC 4563 for further discussion. ===== IC 3557 is a double (at least) galaxy in a compact group, which is, in turn, in a cluster. There are at least 4 companions nearby -- and on DSS (DSSR1), a defect as well. The defect, fortunately, is in an empty bit of sky just northeast of the IC object. I've included positions for the companions as at least two of these -- directly north of the brighter pair -- may be included in the image on Frost's plate from the 24-inch Bruce refractor. ===== IC 3558 is noted as a double nebula by Frost, but the northern object may be a superposed star, not a second galaxy. ===== IC 3563 and 3564 are objects (HII regions and a star cloud) in NGC 4559, easily seen on the print of Wolf's original plate, though completely blended on the print. There is also a foreground star just south that is included in Wolf's image. Wolf's original plate must be clearer in this area as he was able to make two objects out of the single blob on the contact print. Following his lead, I've -- more or less arbitrarily -- made the western object (the brighter HII regions) IC 3563, and the eastern (the star cloud and the foreground star) IC 3564. This may not be correct, but does not do terrible mischief here. In the early 1970's, I took the star alone as IC 3564, but that was long before I had seen the print of Wolf's plate. ===== IC 3564. See IC 3563. ===== IC 3565 is a galaxy with a star to the south included in Wolf's object. He describes it as "I_3, S, vF, ?Af, ? Ch of *'", extended at 140 degrees. The "I_3" is a classification meaning "Andromeda-like", "Af" means "form of Nebula of Andromeda", and "Ch of *'" is "chain of stars." On the print of Wolf's plate, the object is clearly at least double, though I can see how Wolf might call it "Andromeda-like". In any case, Wolf's position and description -- the "chain" and the position angle in particular -- point right at the galaxy and star. ===== IC 3566 is probably a defect -- but just possibly may be a comet. Found by Frost on Harvard plate A6720 (10 May 1904), he described it as "Com., head R, tail 1.0' long at 110 deg." Adelaide Ames, in her 1930 catalogue of the Virgo Cluster, says simply "A comet" in her footnote to a list of NGC and IC objects which she could not find. She examined the same plate that Frost used. Brian Skiff and Larry Wasserman at Lowell Observatory have run Frost's position (12 31.3 +11 43; 1900) through a comet identification program, and came up empty-handed. The nearest known comet was 10P/Tempel 2, but it was more than 15 deg away (at 13 36 11, +12 45.2) on 10 May. On Brian Skiff's advice, I also asked Brian Marsden to run his software to check his comet catalogue. He wrote back, "I don't see any known comet that IC 3566 could have been." So, it is almost certainly a defect on the old Harvard plate. ===== IC 3569 = NGC 4561, which see. ===== IC 3570 is a star, seen on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3572 is a double star close to Schwassmann's position. ===== IC 3577 is a defect on Schwassmann's plate. We can be sure of this because there is nothing exactly at his position. But just to the northeast is a "* 12.8" which Schwassmann calls "* 207a" in his list (IC 3577 is itself number 207 of his list). Schwassmann's description of the IC object reads "vF, pS or cS, dif, cont[ains] * 207a". There is another fainter star on to the northeast that may also have been involved in Schwassmann's "nebulosity". ===== IC 3579 is a star just a few arcsec from Wolf's position. It is right at the limit of the contact print from Wolf's original plate, and is just barely distinguishable from plate grain. ===== IC 3582 has been misidentified by nearly everyone as the brighter galaxy southwest of the real I3582. Wolf's position is exact for his object, and it appears as a nearly stellar object on the print of his original plate. The brighter galaxy to the southwest (UGC 7778) also appears on the print, and it too appears to be stellar. I suspect that this is why Wolf skipped over it. ===== IC 3584 is a star, clearly identified by Schwassmann's good position. ===== IC 3588 = NGC 4571, which see. ===== IC 3589 is a star just north-preceding IC 3591. Schwassmann has the following data (equinox 1900.0) for these two objects: Working Running Number Number On Plates Object Sn (Sn) Zone RA Dec Desc I3589 29 7 Ia2 12 31 56.23 +07 29 13.2 vF, pS, R, li * I3591 30 6 Ia2 12 31 57.99 +07 28 35.0 F, pS 47 II3 12 31 58.24 +07 28 36.3 F, cS, nr * 14, alpha, delta: Note that IC 3589 was picked up in only one zone of the two that Schwassmann searched across this area. If we adopt 12 31 58.07 +07 28 35.4 for IC 3591 (half weight for the 2nd position which is noted uncertain) then the differential position with respect to I3589 is 27.4 arcsec in RA and -37.8 arcsec in Dec. Measured on the Sandage-Binggeli photo in their Paper III (Plate 52, p. 1095, AJ xx, 198x), the difference in position between the galaxy and the brighter star to the upper right is 26 arcsec in RA and -34 arcsec in Dec. Within the errors of my measurements (a few arcsec), the offsets agree, so IC 3589 is certainly the star. ===== IC 3591. See IC 3589. ===== IC 3594 is a star with a defect superposed. Both are very faint, but visible, on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3596 is a defect. Wolf's position is just north-northeast of a wide double star, and his description reads, "Wings [curving arms], near a double star." There is nothing at all on the POSS1 or the DSS1/2 in this place, and Wolf's mention of the double star near the "nebula" rules it out as his object, too. The defect is visible on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3601 is a perfectly good galaxy, the brightest in a relatively compact group, about 1.5 arcmin north of Frost's position. Nevertheless, Ames has this to say about the IC number: "A defect on the plate where it was originally found by Frost." I suppose this is a possibility -- we will need to examine the plate to be sure. But the galaxy is similar to dozens of others in the area of the Virgo Cluster that Frost (and Ames) found. So, until we know for sure that it is in fact a defect, I'm going to keep the IC number on the galaxy. ===== IC 3602. There are two clear candidates for this object -- a relatively larger, lower surface brightness galaxy preceding Frost's position; and a smaller, more compact object that is the brightest in a quadruple interacting system (this includes the triplet of fainter galaxies preceding the brighter object by about half an arcmin; there are other fainter galaxies in the area, too). Most of the catalogues have taken the preceding low surface brightness galaxy as the IC object. However, it does not match Frost's description which reads "F, R, lbM, dia = 0.1 arcmin." The preceding object is actually closer to half an arcmin across. So, while Frost does indeed have objects like it in his list, I don't believe that it was this galaxy that he picked up. Nevertheless, I'm out-voted on this, so have to put a colon on the IC number for the following, more compact galaxy. And I do have to include the preceding galaxy -- but I do so with a question mark firmly attached to the number. ===== IC 3606 is a compact galaxy, not a star as we had it for some time. Apologies to all. ===== IC 3607. Though called a star in Carlson's 1940 list, this is clearly a galaxy on the DSS. Ames also has it as a galaxy in her 1930 Virgo Cluster catalogue. ===== IC 3609 is a pretty compact galaxy. It was misidentified in CGCG, and that incorrect label has been carried along into UZC. But other lists (VCC, VPC, and Wolfgang's) have the right galaxy. ===== IC 3610 appears as a very faint, irregular, nearly linear image on the print of Wolf's original plate. It turns out to be a line of two (not three as I had it earlier) faint galaxies plus a star (that I had mistaken as a galaxy on the DSS; the SDSS clarifies all ...). Wolf's position is just to the east of the galaxies, but is good enough to unambiguously identify the objects. ===== IC 3612 = IC 3616. Royal Frost found these "two" nebulae on two different overlapping Harvard plates. His two positions are only a tenth of a minute of time apart, and his descriptions are similar. Since there is no other galaxy nearby which is bright enough to be picked up on the plates, the identity is virtually certain. ===== IC 3613 is a compact galaxy about 1.5 arcmin north of Frost's position. Glen Deen took another fainter galaxy west of Frost's position, but this has a much lower mean surface brightness -- I doubt that it shows up on the Harvard plate. ===== IC 3614 is a star and a galaxy forming a single elongated image on the print of Wolf's original plate. There is another galaxy nearby that might be mistaken as IC 3614, but it is fainter and is just barely visible on the print. ===== IC 3616 = IC 3612, which see. ===== IC 3619 is a double star, unresolved on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3628 is a star, confirmed on the print of the plate from which Wolf assembled his fourth list of new nebulae. This is one of the plates from which Wolf's discovery markings have been erased, but the image of the star can be clearly seen at Wolf's published position. ===== IC 3630 is a star. Its image is on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3636 is a double star. Earlier, I had suggested that is perhaps a triple; the fainter star looks like a blended double star on the DSS1. However, on the DSS2 and SDSS images, that star is clearly a single. It was found on a plate taken by Max Wolf with the 16-inch Bruce refractor at Heidelberg on 27 January 1904. He published this and 197 other objects as new nebulae in 1905, and Dreyer incorporated most of them into the second IC. Wolf also measured positions for six NGC and IC1 objects on the plate. As with most of the other plates in this series, we have been fortunate to be able to compare prints of them -- kindly made available to us by Dr. G. Klare at Heidelberg -- with the POSS1 and with the DSS. This plate, and two of the four others, still carry Wolf's original ink marks identifying the objects which he catalogued. This has made possible the positive identification of almost all of Wolf's objects on this plate which were included in the IC. By the time Wolf examined this plate, he had clearly refined his techniques considerably over his first paper of new "nebulae," where most of the objects are in fact faint stars. Here, only 55 stars or defects are included as nebulae -- still a relatively high percentage, but not too bad considering that Wolf was working with images near the limit of the plate (about 18th magnitude). ===== IC 3640. See IC 3641. ===== IC 3641 is about 30 arcsec southeast of IC 3640. Wolf has only one entry for the two objects in his 4th list of new nebulae found on a Heidelberg plate; I3641 is actually mentioned in the note to I3640. Wolf has the direction wrong in the note -- instead of "np," it should read "sf." Both objects are visible on the print of the original plate, though I3641 is almost indistinguishable from plate grain. ===== IC 3644. See IC 3645. ===== IC 3645 is a star. It is on the print of the original Heidelberg plate, but Wolf's marks have been scrubbed off this plate. Thus, we have only his good position to lead us to the star. I3644 and I3646 are just to the south, and the pair I3640/I3641 (which see) just to the west. ===== IC 3646. See IC 3645. ===== IC 3648 is a star, as with many others, accurately identified by Schwassmann's good position. ===== IC 3650 is a double star. Wolf's position is biased toward the brighter, northwestern star, though its image is blended with that of the southeastern star. ===== IC 3654 and IC 3656 are an interacting pair of galaxies. IC 3656 is a particularly interesting object with a severely distorted corona. It has two main lobes -- one east, the other west -- of the nucleus that, at first sight, appear to be accompanying galaxies. The fine SDSS image is informative. ===== IC 3656. See IC 3654. ===== IC 3657. Earlier, I wrote about this: My first look at the print of the original plate suggested that this is nothing more than a defect. However, as Wolfgang and Malcolm have found, there is in fact a faint star just south of Wolf's position. A second look shows that the image of the star was indeed faintly recorded on Wolf's plate. I suspect that the original plate would show it more clearly. See IC 3636 for more about this discovery plate. Finally, in May 2015, I found that the "star" is in fact a compact galaxy. The SDSS has an emission-line spectrum with a redshift of z = 0.0215. ===== IC 3660 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3663 is a pretty low surface brightness galaxy which Frost found on the Bruce plate taken at Arequipa. There is a brighter compact galaxy to the south-southeast which has been mistaken for the IC object, but it probably appeared stellar on the Bruce plate. Whatever happened, Frost skipped right over it. ===== IC 3664 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3666 is a star. Schwassmann has the description as "eF, vS, ?, [alpha]:, [delta]:". The lonely question mark is interesting -- Dreyer even copied it verbatim into the second IC. It, and the colons on the position symbols, show that Schwassmann was not particularly confident about this object. However, the star is there on the DSS, so Schwassmann's plate did record something at his position. There may also have been a defect or a bit of random grain noise that lent a bit of fuzziness to the image, too. ===== IC 3667 = NGC 4618, and IC 3675 = NGC 4625. I have no idea how these identities came about, aside from a coincidence of oversight by both Max Wolf (in whose 5th Konigstuhl list the IC objects first appear) and Dreyer. The NGC and IC positions are vitually identical in both cases, and Wolf's descriptions -- liberally sprinkled with exclamation points -- leave no doubt as to which objects he saw on his plate (the correct objects are clearly marked on the print of the plate that I've compared to POSS1). Perhaps both astronomers were becoming bored with long lists of faint nebulae by 1904 and just didn't do the careful checking needed. Whatever the case, there is no doubting the identities. The second has been noted in several galaxy catalogues (RC1, MCG, etc.), but the first has been overlooked. I suspect that the feeling, on seeing an IC number attached to an 11th magnitude galaxy, was one of disbelief; or that the number must belong to a knot in the galaxy (IC 3668 is in fact such a knot, and IC 3669 is the south-southeastern arm). But this is all speculation, with none of the principals now alive to tell us what really happened. ===== IC 3668 is a knot in NGC 4618 = IC 3667 (which see). The correct object is marked on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 3669 is the bright part of the southeastern arm of NGC 4618 = IC 3667 (which see). The correct object is marked on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3672 = IC 809, which see for the story. ===== IC 3673 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3674 is a double star, verified on the print of the original plate. Wolf's comment "exc[entric] neb *, * 11 sp 1 arcmin" is correct in all respects. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3675 = NGC 4625. See IC 3667. ===== IC 3676 is a star at Schwassmann's position. In his description, he notes "li[ke] * 13 (perhaps *)", making the identification even more sure. ===== IC 3679 is a double star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3680 is a star. The correct object is marked on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3681 is a star. The correct object is marked on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. Wolf also noted a "* 13 sp 1/2 arcmin"; the image of that star is there on both the print and the DSS. ===== IC 3682 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3685 is a star at Schwassmann's position, perhaps including the very faint star to the southwest, or perhaps involved with a plate defect. His description reads "vF, pL, ?, alpha delta ::". ===== IC 3687 = UGC 7866 = DDO 141 is a large, low-surface-brightness Im V galaxy. There is no obvious nucleus unless the slightly eccentric stellar object -- which I've taken as a superposed star based on its appearance in the SDSS image -- to the northeast of the approximate center is it. About the same distance to the southeast is a blue knot of about the same brightness. Unfortunately, a quick search through NED turns up no optical spectra of these objects, and the SDSS does not have them, either. A spectrum of the object that I take to be a star would be especially useful. ===== IC 3688 = NGC 4633. Schwassmann's position is good, but it is 10 seconds of time following Swift's for NGC 4633 (actually found by his son Edward. Swift does not say who determined the positions for Edward's nebulae). The descriptions are similar, and Schwassmann has a note about the nearby star, just as Swift does. The identity, apparently first suggested by Ames, is therefore secure. ===== IC 3695 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3699 is a double star, verified on the print of the original plate. Though there is a galaxy 0.8 arcmin to the north-northeast, Wolf's mark on the plate, his measured position, and his comment "2 *'[s] 13 np, * 15 n 1 arcmin," all point clearly to the stars as the IC object. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3700. I had this to say in January 2004: At one point, I claimed "IC 3700 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate." However, going to Wolf's position in DSS shows two very faint galaxies, probably an interacting system. Checking the print again, the smudge there, with Wolf's mark, is exactly on the position of the two faint galaxies. I'm frankly surprised they came through, but there they seem to be. Are they perhaps enhanced by a defect? I was wrong. During my 2014-15 sweep for accurate positions, I was again struck at how faint the galaxies are, so I once again pulled out the print of Wolf's original plate. His mark is pointing directly at the star, and there is absolutely no trace of the nearby galaxy. There are defects in the area, and there is plate grain as well -- but no galaxy. And for good reason. The SDSS magnitudes for the galaxy, converted to BVR, are B = 21.8, V = 19.8, and R = 18.9. These are well beyond the limit of Wolf's B-band plate. That plate is, however, a deep one. The star, right at the limit, has B = 20.8, V = 19.3, and R = 18.4 (again, converted from SDSS data). The redshift of the galaxy, by the way, is z = 0.3437. Were this actually the IC object, this would probably be a record. ===== IC 3703 is a star. The correct object is marked on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3705 is a faint double galaxy, not clearly resolved on the original plate. Wolf must have suspected some irregularity in the image as he calls it a possible spiral. There is also a considerably fainter galaxy just to the southeast that may be involved in the image on the plate. I've provided positions for all of these. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3706 is a double star at Schwassmann's position. There may be a defect involved, too, as his description includes the word "dif[fuse]". ===== IC 3707 is a star. The correct object is marked on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3708 is the northwestern arm of NGC 4654. Schwassmann's two positions roughly coincide with the middle of the arm, and his description "pB, cL, Af" (where "Af" means "Nebula similar to the Andromeda Nebula") matches it well enough as it might be seen on a plate taken with a six-inch lens. The position I've adopted is the mean of two 2MASS PSC positions for two knots in the arm. Schwassmann has two other entries for NGC 4654 itself, from the same zones on the plate as IC 3708, so the IC object is clearly not a duplicate of the larger and brighter galaxy. ===== IC 3710 is a low-surface-brightness dwarf spiral in the Virgo Cluster. Its structure is similar to the LMC's, but the bar is much smaller, and the knot corresponding to 30 Doradus (NGC 2070) is much larger (though still of low surface brightness). So, the positions for this galaxy are all over its face. I have, as usual, provided the position for the approximate center of the bar. ===== IC 3712 is probably a defect on Schwassmann's plate. There is nothing on the DSS at his position, and there is also nothing at reasonable digit errors that match his description ("vF, pS, Af 42 deg, ??, alpha delta :"; "Af" means "Similar to the Andromeda Nebula"). ===== IC 3715. The IC position is 10 arcmin off in dec. This is a typo in the IC as Wolf's original declination is correct for the object he marked on his plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3716 and IC 3719 are two of Schwassmann's nebulae found on his plates of the Virgo Cluster. He describes both similarly (eF, vS) though adds two question marks after the entry for I3719. He also has a note: "Clearly distinct from one another," probably added since the two objects are separated by less than an arcminute. Unfortunately, there is only one galaxy in the area. Its position is about 10-15 arcsec west of the position for I3719, but the place of I3716 is even further west, and about 30 arcsec south as well. At Schwassmann's RA for I3716, there is a star -- but it is about 30 arcsec north of his Dec. I suspect plate flaws superposed on the galaxy that is there. Since the position for I3719 is closest to the galaxy, I'm going to adopt that number for it -- though with some trepidation. ===== IC 3719. See IC 3716. ===== IC 3721 = IC 3725. The position measured by Royal H. Frost on the Harvard plate is just 6 seconds of time preceding Wolf's more precise position from the Heidelberg Bruce plate. The descriptions are similar, and there are no other objects within 10 arcmin that could be mistaken by either observer for a nebula. The identity is certain. ===== IC 3722 is a double star. I had earlier described it as "two blended double stars about 14 arcsec apart," but both the DSS2 and the SDSS show it as a simple double. Schwassmann's position falls just between the stars, and his description "vF, vS, li[ke] * 13" is appropriate. ===== IC 3725 = IC 3721, which see. ===== IC 3730 = CGCG 129-021. Wolf's declination is 30 arcsec off, but his mark on the original plate clearly points to the correct galaxy. ===== IC 3733 may be the star that I've indicated in the position table, though there are two other similarly bright stars nearby, as well as a very faint galaxy (or another star?) that would have blended in with the nearest star on Schwassmann's plate. His description ("eF, S, li * 14") is not very helpful, referring as it does to just a single object. The star I've taken is the closest to his position, and does well enough. I've listed the other two stars, just in case ... ===== IC 3737 is a double star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3738. On the DSS, this appears to be two stars, with a very faint galaxy between them, closer to the southwestern star. The two stars must be the main contributors to the image verified on the contact print of Wolf's original plate. However, on the SDSS, the "galaxy" resolves into at least one foreground star with a multiple galaxy just to the south. I've given positions for the two brighter flanking stars, the fainter foreground star, and the brightest component of the galaxy system. All are visible on the DSS2 red image. ===== IC 3739 is probably a defect on Schwassmann's plate. There is nothing at his position, nor at obvious digit offsets, though there are faint stars and galaxies in the area. ===== IC 3741 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. At some point, I had called this a blended double star based on the DSS image. However, on the DSS2 and SDSS, this is clearly a single star. ===== IC 3743 is two stars centered on Schwassmann's position. There are two fainter stars to the southwest, but he makes no mention of these; they may not appear on his plate. I give positions for all of them. ===== IC 3747 is a star. The correct object is marked on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3748 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3749 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3750 is a star, verified on the print of the original plate. There is another star 15.5 arcsec south that Wolfgang took as IC 3750. On the red DSS, it does indeed look a little brighter, but the northern star is brighter on the blue POSS1 print, so is probably the object that Wolf marked. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3751 is a galaxy at Wolf's position, correctly marked and verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's comment "neb * 15 p," however, applies to just a star; there is no nebulosity involved. ===== IC 3752 is a star, verified on a print of Wolf's original plate. I had called it a blended double star in an earlier pass, but it is a clear single in DSS2 and SDSS images. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3753 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. The "* 14 conn sp" that Wolf mentions in his notes is on the DSS, too. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3755 is a double star, verified on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3757 is a triple star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. The eastern star is the faintest and looks like a blended double on the DSS; it is, however, clearly a single star in the DSS2 and SDSS images. ===== IC 3760 is not IC 815, which see. ===== IC 3764 = IC 817, which see. ===== IC 3765 is a star with a plate defect superposed. The correct object is marked on a print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. At some point in the past, I had called this a blended double star. It is not; the images are clearly single on the DSS2 and SDSS. ===== IC 3768 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3769 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. My suspicion that it might be a blended double star was not borne out by the single images on the DSS2 and SDSS. ===== IC 3770. There is only a very faint star in Schwassmann's position. It does not match his description ("cF, cS, l 30 deg, ?"), so I suspect that most of the image belongs to a defect. I've nevertheless listed the star, as it is within a standard deviation or so from Schwassmann's position, and may figure in his image. ===== IC 3771 is a galaxy with a plate defect superposed. The object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3772 = CGCG 188-020 = MCG +06-28-028. The IC number has sometimes been mistakenly attached to DD0 47 = UGC 7949 = MCG +06-28-030 which is 3 arcmin south-southeast. But Wolf's position is good, and he has marked the correct galaxy on his original plate. ===== IC 3773 is a pretty low surface brightness late-type galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, found by Frost on a Harvard plate. There is a 15th magnitude star superposed on the outer boundary of the galaxy about an arcmin northeast of the nucleus. Even though Frost claims that the galaxy is Sn 150, his position is about 2 arcmin southwest of Schwassmann's, which is within a few arcsec of the star. This suggests that Frost should be credited with the discovery of this galaxy rather than Schwassmann. ===== IC 3777 is a star at Schwassmann's position. Wolfgang, in his first list, took VCC 2054 as the IC object, but this is wrong. The galaxy is over an arcmin away from the nominal position, and neither RA nor Dec has reasonable digit errors to explain the offset. ===== IC 3780 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3781 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. It is quite faint on the DSS, but Wolf's position is very close and he mentions the stars to the north and west in his notes. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3782 is a star. Even though Wolf's declination is 30 arcsec too large, the correct object is marked on a print of Wolf's original plate. So, there can be no question about the identity. There are two faint galaxies (I called them stars earlier) nearby that do not appear on the print; I've nevertheless provided positions for them. ===== IC 3785 is a galaxy, and there may be a faint defect superposed on the discovery plate. The print of the plate that I looked at is not clear enough to be sure. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3787 is a double star. The object is blended into a single image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. Wolf's mark points unmistakeably at the correct object. The only mistake here was mine in giving only the brighter eastern object the IC number when I first went over the field. ===== IC 3790 is a star exactly at Schwassmann's position. Even though he describes it as "eF, vS, ??" -- the "??" indicating considerable doubt about the nebulous character of the object -- there is no doubt about the identity. The position is too close to a star very similar to others that Schwassmann, working at the limit of his plates, mistook for faint nebulae. ===== IC 3791 = NGC 4695. Swift found the IC object on 23 May 1897. That same night, he found two other objects: I2976 and I4205 (both of which see). I2976 is NGC 3979, and I4205 is IC 853. For I3791, he notes "[NGC] 4732 in field." That can't be right as N4732 is 1.5 degrees south of Swift's position for I3791. (The galaxy in the field is actually N4686). This was not a particularly good night for Lewis Swift. His position for I3791 shares with that for I4205 a declination which is about five arcmin too far north; the right ascensions are very close to correct in both cases. (I2976, on the other hand, has a declination that is very close to the modern value, while its RA is 1.5 minutes too small.) Since his descriptions are also appropriate for the galaxies, I have little doubt about the identities I've suggested here. ===== IC 3792. Previously, I had written: IC 3792 is two faint stars, probably with a defect involved, too. Schwassmann's position is about 20 arcsec to the south. There is an extremely faint galaxy in the area, too, but it would not have appeared on the plate from the 6-inch refractor that Schwassmann was using. Looking more closely at the field during my May 2015 review, I'm not so sure about this. There is a group of about half a dozen faint objects here; the two brightest are indeed stars, but the brighter galaxy is pretty close in apparent magnitude to the stars. Given that Schwassmann's position is well off the center of this group of objects, I am no longer sure that his object is directly involved with what we now see on the sky. His description merely reads "vF, S" so is little help. All this has led me to include positions for the galaxies, and question marks on everything here -- aside from Schwassmann's original position, of course. ===== IC 3794 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3796 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf mentions a "** 13 np" -- those stars are there. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3797 must be a defect on Schwassmann's plate. His description is telling: "F, pS, perhaps FN, like an asteroid trail, geom N pt". I'm not sure about his last phrase ("pt" means "pointed"), but the first three make it clear that he was looking at an elongated object. In a note, he adds "Borders in [alpha]: -2.5s, +3.1s", probably the distances to the edges of the object from the nucleus. Since there is nothing like that at his position, nor at reasonable digit offsets, this is most likely a plate defect. ===== IC 3798 is a star at Schwassmann's position. His description reads simply, "F, S" -- appropriate for the star. ===== IC 3800 is a close pair of galaxies, verified (as a single object) on the print of Wolf's plate. The separation is only 10 arcseconds; it is not yet known if these make a physical pair as the redshift for only the eastern galaxy is known (z = 0.0405). I had earlier speculated that the western object might simply be a plume from the eastern; it is not a plume, but an "early" barred spiral. ===== IC 3801 is another defect on Schwassmann's plate. He describes it as "cB, pS, li * 95 [sic]". There are no stars this bright in the area, and there are none either at positions where digit errors might put them. ===== IC 3802 is a star 25 arcseconds south of IC 3805, a double star. The correct object is marked on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3803 is a star, probably with a defect involved. Schwassmann's position is good, but his description "eF, pL, ?, alpha: delta:" suggests that the object was more extended than his usual star. ===== IC 3804 = NGC 4711. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Neither he nor Dreyer realized that the object is NGC 4711 in spite of the nearly identical positions and Wolf's clear description of this as quite a noticeable nebula on his plate. ===== IC 3805 is a double star about 25 arcsec north of IC 3802, another star (which see). The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3807 may be NGC 4705. It is the only galaxy within several degrees of Swift's position that comes close to matching his description: "eeF, L, eE; 7m * nr s little f." However, the star is northeast, not south-southeast as Swift implies. If so, this just another of his mistakes in noting relative positions. At least Swift's RA matches the NGC galaxy, though the declination is about 48 arcminutes off. I looked for another galaxy at a declination digit (10 and 20 degrees south) and sign (+3 rather than -3) away from his nominal position -- nothing at all. I have not yet checked at digit errors in RA hours, but there is certainly nothing at +- 1 minute, +- 10, or +- 20 minutes of time. My feeling is that this is another case like IC 3166/3180 (which see): the NGC galaxy is probably Swift's object, but we have only circumstanstial evidence of the match. With the position so far off, and the direction of the star being different from Swift's description, I am not very comfortable with the hypothesis. But it is the only one we have, so I am going to reluctantly equate the two numbers, though with appropriate question marks. The magnitude of the star is V = 9.22, by the way, and it is 4.85 arcmin from NGC 4705. If this is Swift's object, the star would have been well within his field radius of 16 arcmin, and the magnitude is at least in the ballpark for a rough estimate. Another note: there are no stars brighter than about 11 or 12 within 15 arcminutes of Swift's nominal position. ===== IC 3810 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3811 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3817 may be a double galaxy, though it looks more like a single, somewhat peculiar, blue galaxy on POSS1. The SDSS is little more helpful, showing a bright red nucleus with a blue plume to the northeast. Or, the SDSS shows a compact lenticular superposed on a spiral. It has a spectrum only for the southwestern component, and not even a position for the blue object. Whatever its nature, the identification is secure having been verified on the print of Wolf's original plate with his mark pointing directly at the galaxy. ===== IC 3819 has a faint companion -- or superposed star -- just to the southeast. The survey plates are not good enough to allow me to assign a definite type; my apologies. ===== IC 3820 is a fairly faint galaxy with a plate defect superposed on its image on Wolf's original plate. The defect pulls Wolf's position (copied correctly into IC2) 10 or 12 arcsec south off the galaxy. The object is marked on a print of the original plate. ===== IC 3821 is almost certainly a single star. Previously, I wrote: IC 3821 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. Its image is blended on DSS1, and when I first went over the field, I mistakenly called it a single star. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. SDSS shows it to be single, though with two other stars and a galaxy nearby. The five DSS images variously suggest a single or a double star with different companions near the plate limit nearby. I'm sticking with what I see on the SDSS. ===== IC 3823 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3827 = IC 3838, which see. ===== IC 3829. The identity is not sure. Swift has left us three different positions for his 19th nebula in his 7th list from Echo Mountain. He found the galaxy on 31 January 1898, within just a few months of his final nebular discoveries (the three positions are in the table). The IC description reads "B, S, lE, *9 sf [?119deg 14.5']" (Dreyer's query, not mine). Swift's description in the big AN "Catalogue No. 11 ..." reads simply "B, S, lE", so the additional information must come from one of the smaller lists. It is indeed found in the Monthly Notices (58, 332, 1898) version where he adds "9m * near sf". After a search of the area, Andris and I settled on ESO 442-G026 as Swift's object. This is the brightest object around, it is an even 50 seconds of time from one of Swift's positions -- but it does not have a bright star nearby. The brightest star to the east is a 10th or 11th magnitude star 6.5 arcminutes east. There are somewhat fainter ones 6 arcminutes southeast and south-southwest. The other candidate is ESO 442-G024: larger, fainter, with a lower surface brightness, and surrounded by 9th magnitude stars: 2.5 arcmin northeast, 4 arcmin south, and 6.5 arcmin southwest. Swift would have seen all of these and would probably have commented on them. He would also have probably called the galaxy "eeF, vS" at best. Still, I suppose it is possible that his is his object, so I've put it in the table, too, though with question marks. ----- Looking at this again in May 2017, I think ESO 442-G026 must be Swift's galaxy. The bright star is HD 11948, and is 17.3 arcminutes distant in position angle 125+-. This more or less matches what Dreyer has in the IC2. What I do not know is where Dreyer got the numbers he quotes in his queried separation. If these came from Swift, they would have been in a letter to Dreyer. They are certainly not in either of Howe's MNRAS papers where he provides observations and corrected positions for objects in Swift's 11th list (60, 130, 1899 and 61, 29, 1900). There may be another source of comments on Swift's paper that I do not know about. Any clues? ===== IC 3830 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3833. The IC identity of this galaxy is not in question. Bigourdan's measurements in April 1895 are very good (his comparison star has one of the highest proper motions I've encountered in doing this work -- over 0.42 arcsec per year), so we cannot mistake the galaxy he found. Herbert Howe ran across the same galaxy, but thought it might be one of the pair, NGC 4722 and 4723 (which see), that Tempel found following NGC 4714. Dreyer put Howe's object into the IC notes as "NGC 4722-23", apparently without noticing the coincidence of Bigourdan's and Howe's positions. MCG certainly picked up on it, however, so has N4722 = I3833. Working on SEGC, I made the same assignment of the numbers, but clearly did not do much digging into the literature (though I did translate Tempel's published note for N4722 and 4723). In any event, I see now that we actually do not know for sure which objects Tempel saw. So, we may not be correct in equating one of them with IC 3833. Thus, my liberal use of question marks in the position table for the two NGC numbers. ===== IC 3834 is not, as so often supposed, NGC 4740 (which see; it is actually a reobservation by Swift of NGC 4727, the brightest galaxy in the group of four here). Nor is it NGC 4726 (which also see), as first suggested by Howe and taken up by Dreyer in a couple of IC2 notes. Bigourdan wisely threw out all the NGC numbers for his observation of this galaxy (or he was utterly confused and simply ignored them) and declared it a "nova", even though Howe had obviously seen, too. ===== IC 3838 = IC 3827. Bigourdan made a mistake of +1 minute in the RA of his comparison star. Otherwise, his four observations on 14 Apr 1895 are a detailed and accurate account of the galaxy, the star to the south (also noted by Howe), and the comparison star. ===== IC 3839 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3840. Though Wolf comments "* sp inv," the object there is actually a part of the galaxy, a rather patchy IB(s)m IV, itself. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3841 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3845 is a star. There is a very faint galaxy just to the southeast of the star, but there is no trace of it on the print of the original plate. The star is marked on that print. ===== IC 3846 must be another defect on Schwassmann's plate. His description, like others for defects, would make this an outstanding object that the Herschels would be ashamed of for missing: "B, pL or pS, N = * 9.2". Needless to say, there is nothing like this in the area, nor at any reasonable digit errors. ===== IC 3847. Wolf's comment "neb * 15 sp" is slightly incorrect: the star is not nebulous. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3848 is a faint double galaxy, not resolved on the original plate. Wolf noted it as being elongated, however. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3849 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3851 is a star, with a defect superposed on the image, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's comment "* 12 s" is also correct; the brighter star is just an arcminute south. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3854 is one of two galaxies, probably the eastern. Wolf's marks around the objects are unusual, forming a w-shaped figure to the north, and with simple dashes south and east pointing at his object and a "* 15 f" (this object is indeed the star though I misidentified it as the companion galaxy earlier). The galaxies are either at the plate limit or are seriously out of focus on the contact print that I've examined. In any event, Wolf's position is closer to the eastern of the pair, so that is the one I take as the IC galaxy. The other is nearly as bright and is actually larger, but neither is clearly seen on the print. ===== IC 3858 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Also, Wolf's comment "* 13 sp 1/3 arcmin" is correct. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3860 is a faint, little galaxy. I suspect that there is a defect enhancing its image on Wolf's original plate. Otherwise, I don't see how he could have picked it up. It is, however, close to his position, so I've included it in the table. ===== IC 3862 = UGC 8023 = Arp 265 = VV 266 has an eccentric structure, much brighter on the southern end, noted by Wolf as an "att * 15." I suspect that it is a "ring" galaxy, similar to NGC 4774, NGC 7828/29, IC 298 (all of which see), and others. There is a small, red companion galaxy just to the southeast which may be -- if this is indeed a ring galaxy -- the nucleus, stripped of its disk, or the colliding galaxy which "destroyed" the spiral. ===== IC 3863 is a galaxy with a star superposed. The object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3864 is a faint galaxy, with a star superposed, not resolved on the original plate (my original classification as a double galaxy was wrong). Wolf noted the star 0.5 arcmin south, so there is no question about the identity. This galaxy, and several other galaxies in Wolf's list, are members of the cluster Abell 1638. SDSS makes the redshift z = 0.063. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3866 is a faint double galaxy, not clearly resolved on the original plate. Wolf must have noticed some irregularity in the image, however, as he suggested it might be a cluster. Perhaps the plumes from the southern galaxy are included in the image, too, though they does not show up as individual objects on the print. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3870 is an interacting pair of galaxies; the image on the print of Wolf's plate is completely blended. See IC 3636 for more about Wolf's plate. ===== IC 3875. The "* 14 p" mentioned by Wolf is actually a double star. The images of the galaxy and the double are clear on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 3876 has a companion that is nearly as bright. No trace of it shows on the print of Wolf's original plate, however. IC 3876 itself is just barely seen there. ===== IC 3877. Wolf's position is exactly 7.0 arcmin north of the true position -- the correct object is marked on his plate. I suspect this results from a measuring error which placed the object 2 cm closer to the northern edge of the plate than it really is. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3878 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3881 is the northeastern of two faint galaxies, and is clearly marked on Wolf's plate. He describes it as "vF, vS; long chain? attached north (remarkable), chain? connecting [to I3877]." There is a trace of a very faint defect, or of a random clumping of photographic "grain," on the print of Wolf's plate which I examined, but certainly no "chain" of galaxies appears on POSS1. The nearest similarly bright companion is about 30 arcsec to the southwest, and is a pair. For more about the discovery plate, see IC 3636. ===== IC 3886 is another of the galaxies in Abell 1638, with many companions. Wolf's note reads "Ch!! conn 1'n, &&, viF." This becomes, "Very remarkable chain connecting 1 arcmin north, very irregular figure." The print of Wolf's original plate shows the galaxy only faintly, but his mark points exactly at it. The star and galaxy (I had mistakenly called the pair a double star in an earlier note) about an arcminute north are not connected to it in any way on either POSS1 or POSS2, so the connection that Wolf saw on his original plate is probably a defect. It does not show clearly at all on the print of his plate. See IC 3636 for more about that plate. ===== IC 3887 is a double star, though the northwestern star is enough fainter that I missed it on the POSS1 O print. I called it a single star for several years. The correct object is clearly marked on a print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate -- the two are completely merged there. ===== IC 3889 is probably a single star, though it may include two other stars and a galaxy within an arcminute to the north. None of the objects is clear on the print of the original plate, nor is it clear to which of these objects Wolf's mark points. However, his position is for the southern star, so that is the object I have taken. ===== IC 3891 is a galaxy. Though I took it to be a star with a plate defect superposed during my survey of the IC objects in Wolf's fifth list, this is clearly incorrect (thanks to Malcolm Thomson for catching the mistake). The object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, but is not clearly seen on the print. It is possible that it appears stellar on the POSS1 blue print which I looked at, but it is more likely that I simply made a mistake. DSS clearly shows it to be a galaxy. ===== IC 3893 is marked on the print of the original plate 3.5 arcmin north of Wolf's published position. Since other of the nebulae in this list are also off by the same amount (e.g. IC 3919), I think that the discrepancy represents a digit error in Wolf's y-axis measurement. The galaxy is the largest of three, and there is a faint star just to the northwest of the middle galaxy. The other galaxies are just northwest of I3893, but only one is (faintly) visible on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 3894 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf has it connected to a 15th magnitude star to the northeast; that star is there, but there is no obvious connection. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3898 is a faint galaxy with, according to Wolf, an "att eF * pr." The "star," however, is a defect on Wolf's plate, just seen on the contact print which I examined. ===== IC 3901 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3902 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3903 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3904 = CGCG 188-029. Wolf correctly describes this as a spiral, but he has the sense of spirality backwards. ===== IC 3905 is a faint triple galaxy -- probably an interacting system -- not resolved on the print of Wolf's original plate. A fourth galaxy, not on the print, is about 40 arcsec on to the southwest from the brightest component. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3906 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3910 is a double star. Wolf's comment reads "? neb **" -- there is no nebulosity associated with the double. The correct object is marked on a print of his original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3911 is two galaxies whose images are merged on the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf took and examined. The object is marked on the contact print of that original plate where it appears to be single. The second galaxy appears to be very compact, perhaps even being a star, on the original DSS. However, the SDSS shows it to be definitely a galaxy with a very faint, but extended and slightly distorted corona. The two must form an interacting pair. ===== IC 3912 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3914. On the DSS, this is a double object, with a star being about 12 arcsec northwest of a galaxy. On the print of the original plate, there is an apparent plate defect superposed. The defect -- which may only be present on the print of the original plate -- stretches to the northeast from the galaxy. Wolf's mark points at the galaxy itself. My earlier assessment of this as a single star and a defect may be the result of the appearance of the object on the POSS1 blue print. On the red print, and on the DSS, it is clearly a galaxy with a neighboring star. My thanks to Malcolm Thomson who called my attention to the discrepancy. ===== IC 3915 is the northern of two stars, verified on a print of the original plate. Though Wolf's position is in error by exactly 10 arcmin in declination -- clearly a typo -- his mark on the plate, and his comment "inv * 14 s" both refer to the correct object. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3917 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate, probably with a plate defect involved. This number has occasionally been mistakenly assigned to the galaxy IC 3918 (e.g. RC1), but Wolf's position corresponds to the star he has marked on his plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3918, a real galaxy, has occasionally been assigned the number IC 3917, which see. IC 3917 is actually a star. ===== IC 3919 is marked on the print of the original plate, and is 3.5 arcmin north of Wolf's published position. Since other of the nebulae in this list are also off by the same amount (e.g. IC 3893), I think that the discrepancy represents a digit error in Wolf's y-axis measurement. There is a larger but fainter galaxy about 1.5 arcmin east of the IC galaxy. It is not visible on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the plate. ===== IC 3923 is a double star. The correct object is marked on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3925 is a triple star. Based on the DSS, I had called this a double star. However, the SDSS shows the brighter northeastern star to be itself double. And the faint object to the southwest is indeed a galaxy, not a defect on the original DSS. Whatever its nature, the correct object is marked on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3926 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3929 is an interacting pair with distorted arms. On the original DSS, it looks like a single galaxy; on DSS2, it begins to be resolved; and on SDSS, it is clearly a pair. The identification is not in doubt; the correct object is marked on Wolf's plate. ===== IC 3932 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3933 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3935 = NGC 4849. The problem here is that the galaxy is in a crowded area of the sky (the Coma Cluster), and d'Arrest's position is 4 arcmin south of the galaxy. This was corrected by Spitaler and mentioned in the first IC by Dreyer, but he (Dreyer) did not notice that Javelle's object was exactly at Spitaler's position, too. So, two numbers. ===== IC 3936. The position corresponds to a single star about 30 arcsec south of a line of three stars. The mark on Wolf's plate is not clearly pointing at one or the other of these, however, and his description is more apt for the line of stars (not resolved on the original plate). Wolf also noted the brighter star 1 arcmin following his object, again matching the line of stars better than the single star. However, the single star to the south is only 4 arcsec away from Wolf's position. Given that his mark is ambiguous, I've taken all four stars as IC 3936, and labeled them with my usual directional flags. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3938 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf correctly comments "* 13 sp"; the neighboring star is there. See IC 3636 for more about Wolf's discovery plate. ===== IC 3939 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3941 is a galaxy. There is a defect on the print of original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate; Wolf's mark points to the defect, but also at the galaxy. Neither is very clear on the print, but Wolf's position is right on the galaxy. Thanks to Malcolm for catching my earlier error for this object. ===== IC 3942 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3951 has a defect superposed on the original plate, clearly visible on the print I examined. Wolf noted the second image, and suggested that the object might be a double star immersed in nebulosity. No trace of the second "object" appears on POSS1, however. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3961 = NGC 4861, which see. The entire galaxy is clearly marked on the original 16-inch Bruce plate (one of the "stars" mentioned in Wolf's description is the bright HII region), and Herschel's description also clearly applies to the entire galaxy. The identity is certain, and the CGCG's contention that N4861 is only the bright HII region in IC 3961 is wrong. By the way, Dreyer has the incorrect number from Wolf's list copied into the IC. IC 3961 is number 103 in Wolf's fifth list, not number 105 (which is correctly applied to IC 3966). My thanks to Courtney Seligman for pointing this out. ===== IC 3962 is a star, verified on a print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3964 is a star. Kobold's offsets, re-reduced with respect to the AC 2000.2 positions for his comparison stars, point directly at it. This is just one of about 15 new nebulae that he found during his work in the Coma Cluster in the spring of 1896. ===== IC 3966. See IC 3961. ===== IC 3969 is a triple galaxy -- with a foreground star just west -- in the core of Abell 1657. Wolf found two other nebulae (IC 3971 and IC 3978) -- and a star, possibly blended with two galaxies (IC 3984) -- nearby, and suggested that they formed a chain. He encompassed all with a single mark on his plate; only IC 3969 and IC 3984 are clearly visible on the print. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 3970 is probably the star near Wolf's position. However, that position is far enough off the star toward another one to the west, that I wonder if it applies to both stars. If so, then Wolf's position angle is close to being correct, too. But then, Wolf's "* 15 att p" is lost. So, I favor the single star explanation. At least one object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, but the print is not clear enough to show the two stars separately, or any defects that might be involved. ===== IC 3971 is a galaxy in Abell 1657. See IC 3969 for more. ===== IC 3972 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3974 = NGC 4947. Swift's position is just 5 minutes of time smaller than that for NGC 4947. Since there is nothing at Swift's position, the identity, while not secured by comments about the star field, is pretty certain. These sorts of large errors occur frequently in the observations from Swift's last years; he found this object on 28 March 1898, less than two months before his last recorded discovery. ===== IC 3977 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3978 is a galaxy in Abell 1657. See IC 3969 for more. ===== IC 3979 is a star with a defect superposed. The position I measured refers to the star alone. There is another star within an arcminute to the north, and I mistakenly took that as the IC object when I went over the field earlier. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3981 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3982 is a star, flanked to the southwest and northeast by two brighter stars, both noted by Wolf. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3983 is a double star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3984 is probably a blended image, a star with two galaxies about 28 arcsec west. While Wolf's position is for the star, the brighter galaxy looks like it is the object marked on the print of the original plate. I've given positions for all three in the main table. The SDSS further clarifies (or complicates!) this. The star is actually a double, while the "two galaxies" actually resolve into a galaxy and a star, with another star to the south, and another fainter galaxy to the southeast. I've adopted SDSS positions for all six objects. ===== IC 3986. This is a galaxy from among those that Swift found during his last year of observing at Echo Mountain in Southern California. The position puts it just a minute of time west of ESO 443-G032, so I have assumed a one minute error in Swift's RA. However, in April 2016 Steve Gottlieb suggested that Swift's object might be ESO 443-G024. Swift's position is actually further off this galaxy -- 52 seconds in RA and 7.8 arcminutes in Dec -- but it better matches his description, "eeF, pS, R; 10m * nr nf" -- if the star is actually northwest, rather than northeast. This may seem more of a stretch, but Steve has pointed out that G024 is brighter (V = 12.1 vs. 12.4, from the ESO-LV photometry) and larger (D_25 = 2.2 arcmin vs. 1.8 arcmin, also from ESO-LV), and is therefore more likely to be picked up than G032. This is exactly his experience in at least two observations of the field in 1993 and 2016. One curiosity: There are actually two stars north and west of the galaxy. The nearer one that I label "nw" has V_Tycho = 11.65, while the slightly more distant one labeled "wnw" has V_Tycho = 11.11. If this is the correct galaxy, which star did Swift mean? We, of course, have no answer to that. So, I am going to accept Steve's suggestion that ESO 443-G024 is actually Swift's object. This is obviously still uncertain, so I've put colons on the number. But I feel confident enough about it to downgrade ESO 443-G032 with question marks. ----- Finally, I note that ESO 443-G024 is also a Parkes radio source, PKS 1258-321. ===== IC 3988 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3989 is a star about 1.8 arcmin south of its listed position. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3992 is a star, the eastern and slightly brighter of two. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3993 is a galaxy at its catalogued position, found by Wolf on a Bruce 16-inch refractor plate, and confirmed on the print I examined. There is no problem with its identification. However, the SDSS images from 25 April 2003 show a blue star superposed east of the nucleus by 5.1 arcseconds and 0.9 arcseconds north. The star does not appear on any of the other digitized surveys that I examined (DSS1, DSS2, or 2MASS), so may be a supernova (it is not included in the IAU supernova list, nor the possible supernova list, maintained at CfA). Fortunately, SDSS has it in all five bands, so the photometry and position are good if the object ever needs to be followed up. See NGC 5521 for another possible supernova. ===== IC 3995 is a star about 9 arcmin north of its listed position. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3996 appeared to be a blended double star on the DSS1 image -- but the SDSS shows it to be a single star, just as I called it when I first went over the field. My interim classification as a blended double was wrong (these things happen; my apologies). The correct object is marked on a print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 3999 is probably identical to NGC 4862 (which has its own story). Bigourdan has only a note on the object in his big table, claiming the object to be +30 seconds and +3.7 arcmin from BD -13d 3633. This observation is dated 16 April 1895. However, referring to his table of novae, Bigourdan makes the date 12 May 1885. There is no trace of this other observation in his published tables, including his list of supplementary observations in Appendix 8 of his introduction. So, the 1895 observation is all that we have to go on for details. At Helwan and Mt. Wilson, observers chose the star close to the nominal position as the object. Wolfgang Steinicke and I made a different choice, the faint galaxy 7 seconds east and 4 arcmin south of the nominal position. Finally, Malcolm Thomson noticed that if the sign of Bigourdan's estimated RA offset is changed to a minus sign, the position is close to NGC 4862, a faint spiral found by Frank Leavenworth at Leander McCormick (the galaxy is positively identified by Leavenworth's sketch; as usual, the nominal position is off in RA). Malcolm's idea is given added support when we look at Bigourdan's attempts to locate NGC 4862 -- he did not find the galaxy on two nights. On the first night, however, he searched at the offset of +10 seconds and +4 arcmin from the same BD star, and made a specific note that he did so. This is the wrong direction, however, so on the second night, he searched at -10 seconds and +4 arcmin. It was on this second night that he "... suspected a trace of nebulosity in the neighborhood of a star, magnitude 13.4, located at ..." the offsets noted above. Since he had his offsets confused for one night, it seems reasonable that he might have done the same the second. In any event, reversing the sign of his estimated RA offset puts his suspected object within an arcminute of NGC 4862. Thus, the identity is reasonable, so I've adopted it, though with a colon flagging the remaining uncertainty. ===== IC 4002 may be a faint interacting double system, or it may be a single galaxy with two bright knots at the centers of its two lobes. Even the SDSS image is not clear enough to distinguish the possibilities. The redshifts of the two objects are similar enough (z = 0.0151 and 0.0149) that they don't help distinguish the possibilities. Whatever the case, I've given positions for both objects, and have adopted the mean for IC 4002 which clearly encompasses both. ===== IC 4005 is a double star, verified on a print of Wolf's original plate. See IC 3636 for more about this discovery plate. ===== IC 4006 is a star with a defect superposed. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4007 is a galaxy with a double star superposed on the southwest edge. There is no question about the identity, but I had earlier mistaken the two stars as a single galaxy on the original DSS. The classification as two stars is clear on the SDSS. ===== IC 4008 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. Earlier, I had suggested that the fainter object might be a compact galaxy; the SDSS clearly shows it to be a second star. ===== IC 4009 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4010 is a galaxy 1.2 arcminute south of its listed position. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4013 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4015 and IC 4016, an interacting pair of galaxies, together make up NGC 4893 (which see). The NGC position is off enough that Wolf misidentified a defect as the NGC object, and listed both IC objects as new nebulae. Both galaxies, and the defect, are marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4016. See IC 4015. ===== IC 4017 is at least two interacting galaxies -- possibly three -- and a star. The third "galaxy", if that is what it is, is superposed on the western arm of the brightest galaxy; it may simply be a knot in that galaxy. Even the SDSS image doesn't quite clarify the situation. Whatever the situation, the identification is clear; the object is verified on the print of Wolf's original plate. ===== IC 4018. My first sweep over this had it as a galaxy with a star superposed. Then, I took a second look at it and concluded that it was just two stars. However, during the IC NED load in 2005, I found that the northern "star" is a 2MASS extended source as well as a MAPS galaxy. So, looking at DSS2, and comparing it with the print of the original plate, it is clear that the IC object is a galaxy with a star about 25 arcsec to the southeast. I suspect I had the wrong objects on the POSS1 prints the first time around, and misinterpreted the overexposed images the second time around. I hope I have it right now -- spectra of these things will tell. SDSS clearly shows the northern object to be an Sab galaxy with a redshift of 0.0714, and the southern object to be a Galactic star. ===== IC 4019 is a double star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf's "* 14 att nf" is a defect. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4022 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4024 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4035 is actually a pair of galaxies. They are merged into one image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate. ===== IC 4036 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4042 has a companion galaxy just 30 arcseconds south. I called the companion "IC 4042A" in past lists, but I have come to prefer the more appropriate label "IC 4042 comp". ===== IC 4046 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4050 is a double star. Wolf's description notes this as a possibility. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4051. Malcolm has pointed out that the identification of this and NGC 4908 (which see for the details) may be switched in most catalogues and lists. I somewhat reluctantly agree with him and have made the switch. This is going to cause a bit of chaos, I'm afraid, but there it is. Note that this is likely to be one of WH's galaxies, too -- H III 363. Dreyer changed the identification from NGC 4894 in a note in the Scientific Papers. He points out (indirectly) that JH changed the identification for the GC. In his 1833 list, JH has h1510 as a "nova", while in GC, he equates it with III 363. Dreyer almost certainly has even h1510 on the wrong NGC number; see NGC 4864 for that story. ===== IC 4052 is a single star as I had first suggested. My intermediate suggestion that it is a blended double star is not borne out by the DSS2 or SDSS images. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4053 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. Wolf has a question mark on this object in his list, and notes it as one of several "eF Neb" in a chain. There are two other objects nearby: IC 4054 is a star, but there is no mark on the plate for the second neighbor, IC 4055 (which see). See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4054 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4055 is probably a defect on the original plate. Unfortunately, no trace of Wolf's ink mark remains -- if there ever was one -- and he has this with a question mark in his list. IC 4053 (which see) and IC 4054, both stars, both clearly marked, flank this object if Wolf's position is accurate. It is possible that there is another object marked on the plate, and that Wolf's position is the result of a reduction error. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4056 has a star superposed 10 arcsec south of the nucleus. The galaxy and the star are merged into one image on the print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate, accounting for Wolf's description "exc" -- eccentric. ===== IC 4057 is a star, about 10-25 arcseconds south of a compact group of galaxies. Wolf's position, however, is that of the star, and careful examination of the image on the print of the original plate shows only the star. I have nevertheless given positions for the nearby galaxies as well. The SDSS shows the "middle" galaxy to be actually a double object, though its image algorithm has blended it into a single object. See IC 3636 for more about Wolf's discovery plate. ===== IC 4061 is actually a pair of galaxies. They are merged into one image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate. ===== IC 4063. When I went over this field earlier, I noted a "vF gal sup 6 arcsec ese". I got the direction wrong. On the DSS and DSS2R, the galaxy appears to have a faint extension to the southwest. The SDSS resolves the two objects: the companion is clearly seen. ===== IC 4066 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4067 is the northern-most of a trio of galaxies; the others are IC 4068 -- with which I4067 is often confused, thanks to an ambiguous entry in MCG -- and IC 4073. All three are at the positions given them by Wolf, and all are marked on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 4068 is the southern-most of a trio of galaxies; the others are IC 4067 (which see) and IC 4073. ===== IC 4069 is a galaxy 0.7 arcmin north of its listed position. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4072 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4073 is the eastern-most of a trio of galaxies. The other two are IC 4067 (which see) and IC 4068. ===== IC 4075. One of my earlier sweeps over this object turned up a companion about 20-25 arcseconds to the northeast. This "companion" is actually a defect on the DSS1. I assume it is on the POSS1 red print as well, but no longer have access to a copy of that to check. ===== IC 4076 is a galaxy. Wolf's comment "? Cl; * 15 np" is correct about the star north-preceding, but not about the nature of the object. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4078 is a double star; Wolf's position falls on the following of the two. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4079 has a star superposed preceding. As noted by Wolf, it was this star that he measured. IC 4080 (which see) is just northeast. These galaxies are in the core of a poor cluster; there are other fainter galaxies nearby. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4080 is a double galaxy in the core of a poor cluster also including IC 4079 (which see), as well as other fainter galaxies. IC 4080 itself is not resolved on a print of the original plate. Wolf correctly noted the two stars flanking the object, one of which he measured for IC 4079. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4084 is a double star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4088 is probably UGC 08140. That would also make it IC 843 and probably also NGC 4913. See those other objects for more. Courtney Seligman has questioned the identity of this object. It was discovered by Bigourdan (it is number 309 in his list of "novae") who has only one estimate of its position on the same night, 13 May 1895, as the nearby but non-existent IC 4093 (which see). His reduced position puts Big 309 about one third of the way from his comparison star to the galaxy that we have all been taking as IC 4088. Bigourdan's brief description is "Objet dont l'existence est certaine et qui parait nebuleux; il est de grandeur 13,4-13,5 ou 13,5." (My translation: "Object whose existence is certain and which could be nebulous; its magnitude is 13.4-13.5 or 13.5.") His magnitude estimate puts it near the extreme limit of his 30-cm refractor. Courtney originally suggested that Big 309 was a 16th magnitude star about 20 arcseconds north of the reduced position for the object. As we've seen in others of Bigourdan's observations, he has trouble with 16th magnitude stars. So, I'm not at all convinced that that star is his object. It could be, of course. But doubt remains, at least in my mind. Here's why. I call this observation of Bigourdan's an "estimate" because all of his "solid" measurements are given in his big tables with the precision of the position angle at 0.01 deg, (e.g. for NGC 4924, with two observations, PA = 140.94) and the distance at 0.1 arcseconds (NGC 4924 again: d = 6' 09.5"). For Big 309 = IC 4088, he has only one "observation" with PA = 90, and d = 1' 24" with respect to his comparison star, TYC 1995-2078-1. This estimate certainly does not carry his usual precision for a true measurement, and almost certainly not his usual accuracy of 2-3 arcseconds. I even suspect his distance to be expanded from an estimate of 1.'4 (but I note again that his big table has 1' 24", not 1.'4). His "measurement" bears the marks of a simple estimate. We don't know for sure that it is, but it certainly looks like it to me. Here is a bit of a detour into some solid data that we will nevertheless make reference to below. The positions are for J2000.0 and are from Gaia EDR3. The magnitudes and colors are from SDSS photometry (transformed to UBVRI; note that the galaxy data are not on the RC3 photometric systems that I usually use). These are for three objects in the area that Bigourdan might have seen. Star: RA = 13 01 50.44, Dec = +29 01 57.8 V = 16.16, B-V = 0.60, U-B = 0.07, V-R = 0.32, V-I = 0.72 North galaxy (UGC 8137 =: NGC 4912): RA = 13 01 33.59, Dec = +29 07 50.0 V = 13.64, B-V = 1.10, U-B = 0.64, V-R = 0.62, V-I = 1.32 V' = 12.98 with RC3 diameters V' = 11.12 with SDSS PetroRad D and RC3 axis ratio South galaxy (UGC 8140 = IC 843 =: NGC 4913 =: IC 4088): RA = 13 01 43.37, Dec = +29 02 40.9 V = 13.92, B-V = 1.02, U-B = 0.50, V-R = 0.57, V-I = 1.26 V' = 13.36 with RC3 diameters V' = 11.91 with SDSS PetroRad D and RC3 axis ratio V' is the surface brightness calculated with the transformed SDSS V magnitude, and with diameters as shown from either RC3 or from SDSS. The Petrosian diameters in SDSS are pretty good approximations of the effective (half light) diameters in RC3 (both, in fact, are supposed to be "metric" diameters, thus not affected by redshift), so the surface brightnesses are also decent approximations to what we'd have had in RC3 for the two galaxies. The galaxies are seen to be 2-2.5 magnitudes brighter than the star. Given their more or less average surface brightnesses, both would have stood a good chance of being seen by an observer in "sweeping mode." In fact, I'm rather surprised that neither Safford nor Bigourdan picked up the northern galaxy. It is somewhat brighter and has a higher surface brightness, so I would have thought that one or the other of the observers would have seen it. Apparently, only LdR picked it up with his much larger telescope. Given all this, I am going to list the southern galaxy as "NGC 4913: = IC 843 =: IC 4088" and the star as "IC 4088?" I obviously prefer the galaxy for carrying Big 309 and all the other numbers, but could of course be wrong. I've found no previous observations in the area, aside from LdR's and Safford's. (The Heidelberg observers started taking photographic plates in the 1890's, roughly at the same time as Bigourdan's visual micrometric observations.) While Safford's are given in the Appendix to the NGC, Bigourdan makes no mention of them in either his main list, or in his "Complementary Measures" list. While it is just possible that Bigourdan saw the first IC before observing Big 309 on 13 May 1895, I doubt that that happened. The IC1 manuscript was received by the RAS from Dreyer on 10 Jan 1895, and "read" on the 11th. I don't know when it was printed and distributed, but it was certainly after those dates. So, Bigourdan would have had a couple of months at most to "digest" the new catalogue from Dreyer. And of course, he had no idea that LdR had been over the field before; as far as he was concerned, N4912, 13, and 16 were 8+ degrees north with N4914. And that's it, all the information we have. Taken at face value, Bigourdan's reduced position falls about 20 arcseconds south of a star with V = 16.2 and B-V = 0.60. The V magnitude almost certainly puts the star out of Bigourdan's normal reach. The brightest object in the area that Bigourdan might consider as nebulous is the galaxy, so I am going to suggest that he actually did see it. In that case, I must stipulate that his estimated position is not as good as his "real" measurements. So, colons go on the identification. Finally, as I've suggested above, this is probably one of the galaxies in the field of the object that Lord Rosse mistook for NGC 4914 (see NGC 4912 for that story). If so, this is NGC 4913, but even that is not quite certain. The only identification not carrying colons is IC 843. (Courtney and I have discussed all these objects at some length, and have hashed out these IDs as a result. This doesn't mean we're correct! It just means that of all the options, this is the one that seems to us to require the least "bending" of the original observations to match what we now see on the sky.) I'll end with a curious note. If all three NGC/IC numbers actually do apply to the galaxy, this is only the second object to make an appearance in all three of Dreyer's catalogues (NGC 2947 = IC 547 = IC 2494 is the other). ===== IC 4090 is a star with a defect superposed on the original plate. The correct object is marked on a print of that Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. ===== IC 4092 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. The object has a very faint companion -- another * -- close to the southeast. Is it possible that this faint star added to the perception of nebulosity on the original plate? See IC 3636 for more about that discovery plate. ===== IC 4093. Bigourdan says of this, "Very close to the star BD +29d 2357 and in the region preceding it, I suspect a trace of nebulosity, seen only when the star is hidden by the wire." He made no measurement of it, and adopted a position that puts his nebula just preceding the star. There is nothing there. So, this is probably a case where either some optical effect led to Bigourdan's suspecting a nebula, or he was again pushing beyond the envelope of his equipment or his eyesight (see e.g. NGC 2529) leading to another "fausse image." ===== IC 4097 is a star (it looks like a blended double on the DSS, but is clearly single on DSS2 and SDSS). The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4098. Earlier, I had written, "[This] may be a double interacting system -- at least, that's how it appears on DSSB2. On DSSR2, it looks like a single, somewhat peculiar barred spiral." In fact, it is clearly seen as a single SB(sr)b galaxy in the SDSS image. I've cleaned up the position table to reflect that. ===== IC 4099 is 3.5 arcmin south of the IC position which was copied correctly from Wolf's list. There is a defect on DSS1 that looks like a double star just northwest of the galaxy. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, so the incorrect position must be from a measuring or reduction error by Wolf. ===== IC 4101 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4102 is a galaxy and a superposed star on the southeastern side. My earlier conjecture that there may be another star or galaxy between them is not borne out by DSS2 or SDSS. Both of the images are merged into just a single blob on the print of Wolf's original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate, accounting for Wolf's description "neb *." ===== IC 4107. There is no problem with the identification -- this relatively low surface brightness dwarf is visible on the print of Wolf's plate. The only thing that is questionable is the classification. On the POSS1 plates, it looks like a typical IB(s)m, but in the better DSS2 images, the image is smoother, and looks more like a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The SDSS image reinforces this latter classification. Note that the SDSS redshift (z = 0.33) and spectral classification (QSO) are completely wrong (as of July 2015, at least). These are the result of turning an automated classifier and redshift algorithm loose on a very low signal-to-noise ratio spectrum. ===== IC 4109 is a star, perhaps with a defect superposed. The image on the print of the original plate is faint and messy. I'm no longer sure that a defect is involved. There is certainly a faint galaxy about 25 arcsec south of the star. It is faintly visible on the print, but Wolf's mark, and his position, both point clearly at the star. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4112 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4113 is a galaxy with a double star superposed on the southeastern side. The two objects are merged into a single image on the print of Wolf's original plate where they are correctly marked. The double star is barely resolved in the SDSS image; the SDSS image algorithm picked up only the brighter star. ===== IC 4116 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4117 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4118. Wolf's RA is two seconds of time too large. This may simply be a typo as the correct galaxy is marked on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 4119 is one or two galaxies merged with a nearby star. Wolf must have suspected some irregularity in the image since he has a question mark in his Remarks column. He marked the correct object on his plate. The galaxy itself is asymmetrical in the DSS1 image with the brightest part at the north end. The DSS2 and SDSS images show that there may be two galaxies here. However, both are elongated in the same position angle; this is either a coincidence, or the object is indeed a single, asymmetrical galaxy. The correct object is marked on the print of the original plate; see IC 3636 for more about that discovery plate. ===== IC 4120 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4121 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. There is a galaxy with a nearby star about forty arcsec to the north. This appears on the print of the original plate, but neither it nor the star is marked, while the real IC 4121 is. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4122 is a galaxy, but with its nominal position in Wolf's sixth list three seconds of time preceding the correct position. Wolf notes "like a chain, star 15 preceding 1/3 arcmin". That star is clearly seen, but the fainter star on further west, prominent on the red DSS image, is barely seen on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 4124 is a blended image of a galaxy with a star superposed. Wolf noted the image as somewhat flattened; this apparent extension is due to the star. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4126 is a star. The mark on the original plate does not clearly point to this, but the position is only 8 arcsec from Wolf's. His note has this as one of a curved chain of nebulae 6 arcmin long. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4128 has two companions just to the north. In the POSS1 images, these appeared as a single object, but they are resolved in DSS2 and, especially, SDSS. Both may contribute some to the image on Wolf's plate, but Wolf's entry in his 6th list does not mention them, nor do they appear on the print of the original plate. ===== IC 4129 has a star close to the east-northeast. The image is not resolved on the print of the original plate, and Wolf makes no comment about irregularity, so it must have appeared single there, too. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4132 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4134 = NGC 4920. I had this as being a "lost" object for some time. Then, Malcolm suggested that it might actually be a faint galaxy about an arcmin off of Bigourdan's position. That prompted me to take another look at the field. Bigourdan covered the area twice, searching for NGC 4933. He found N4933 only once, in May 1897, and noticed that it was double. Curiously, two years earlier, he found another double nebula in the area, with about the same separation, and at the same offset from his comparison star. The comparison stars were claimed to be different, however, so the "new" nebulae ended up in the Second IC. That same night in April 1895 yeilded a third "nova" which became IC 4134. Bigourdan, of course, misidentified his comparison star that April night, calling it BD -10 3594 when it was, in fact, -10 3589. He did have one published errata for the field, noting that the comparison object for IC 4173 was actually IC 4176 while he had originally noted it as being another star. Another error which he did not catch was making the declination zone +10 for the BD star in one of the observations, though it was clearly the same star. In any event, once the change is made, his observations fall right into place. Not only is IC 4134 = NGC 4920, but IC 4173 and IC 4176 are the two components of NGC 4933. ===== IC 4136 may be NGC 4942, IC 4156 may be NGC 4948; and IC 4209 and IC 4212. Something has gone amiss on Harvard plate A3776. It is a one-hour exposure plate, and Stewart found four nebulae on it, all "eeF, cS" or "eF, eS." None of his positions matches any of the galaxies in the area, but fortunately, he gives position angles for three of the four objects he found. Those do allow us to tentatively match three of the galaxies to his objects: IC 4156 could be NGC 4948, and IC 4209 and IC 4212 are probably the galaxies listed in the table. Also, his first two objects, IC 4136 and IC 4156, apparently share the same strange position error: about +5 seconds in RA, and +1d 40 arcmin in declination. When that offset is applied to Stewart's positions, the objects he probably saw turn out to be NGC 4942 and NGC 4948, respectively. Stewart gives a position for a fifth object on the plate: NGC 4995 at 13 07 04, -07 34.0 (1950), within his nominal error of the correct position (he has an interesting note for this: "! S ring neb. with * at centre [sic]). The four IC objects clearly should be checked on the original plate. In the time since I wrote all that, I have wondered if Stewart had his plate somehow rotated so that his positions would be off as he read them with his overlay. However, if that was so, how did he align his overlay at all? I presume he used BD charts. In any event, the whole plate has somehow had mistaken positions read off it by Stewart. ===== IC 4138. Wolf's comment "* 16 inv np, ?**" is interesting since the north- preceding object is a plate defect. The other object is clearly a single galaxy on POSS1, so his concluding comment apparently concerns both the galaxy and the defect. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4142 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4143 is a star with a defect superposed. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4148. Wolf's position is 1.3 seconds too large in RA, but the correct object is marked on the print of his original plate, so the identification is secure. ===== IC 4150 is a star, verified on a print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4151. Earlier I wrote "IC 4151 is actually an interacting pair of galaxies..." DSS2 and SDSS show the system to be an interacting triplet, not just a pair. All are merged into one image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate. ===== IC 4153 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original plate, even though its declination is 14 arcsec too large in Wolf's sixth list. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4154 is a relatively low surface brightness spiral at Wolf's position. This is apparently the galaxy observed by Gregory et al. (AJ 95, 662, 1988), though their position is for a star 6 arcmin north. Their finding list was built around low surface brightness galaxies with bright nuclei, a good description of this galaxy. ===== IC 4155 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4156 may well be NGC 4948. See IC 4136 for the story. ===== IC 4157 is a star with a defect superposed. This probably accounts for Wolf's description "2 nuclei?" The correct star is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, and the defect is seen on the print, too. ===== IC 4162. There is a defect superposed on the northwestern side of the galaxy's image in the DSS1R image. I had mistaken it for a companion or a superposed star, but it appears in no other image that I've looked at. Since it is not in the DSS1B image, it is very unlikely to be a supernova as the red and blue DSS1 plates were taken in pairs on the same nights. ===== IC 4168. The declination in Wolf's list -- and in the IC -- is 10 arcmin too far north, clearly a typo. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, and Wolf mentions the 13th magnitude star to the southwest. ===== IC 4169 has a faint galaxy superposed. It is difficult to distinguish from a star on the DSS images, but it is clearly a galaxy (with a redshift, z = 0.08158) on the SDSS (the redshift of the brighter galaxy is z = 0.08070). They are merged into one image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate. ===== IC 4170 is a double galaxy, the northern two of a quadruple system. The two are not resolved on the print of the original plate, and the other two are not on the print, probably being too faint to have registered on the original plate. The four are reasonably well-seen on the DSS2 and SDSS images. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4172. The right ascension in Wolf's list -- and in the IC -- is 1.0 minute too far west, clearly a typo. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4173 = NGC 4933sw. This is the fainter component of the double galaxy. It was seen twice by Bigourdan, though he misidentified his comparison star on one night, so it has ended up with an IC number as well as the NGC number. The other component of N4933 is IC 4176. Bigourdan "discovered" another galaxy that night, IC 4134 (which see for details) -- but that is NGC 4920. ===== IC 4174 is a star with a defect superposed. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4176 = NGC 4933ne. See IC 4173 = NGC 4933sw and IC 4134 = NGC 4920 for more details. ===== IC 4178 is a low-surface-brightness, late-type spiral. There is no obvious nucleus, but near the center of the brighter inner region is a blue knot. I've taken the position of this from SDSS as representing the galaxy. ===== IC 4179 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Wolf's comment about a "* 14 p" is also correct. He says nothing, however, about a very faint galaxy 6 arcsec to the east -- there is no trace of this on the print. ===== IC 4180. See IC 4196. ===== IC 4181 is a galaxy with a bright knot on the northern arm. On DSS1, the object appears to be a companion galaxy, but the DSS2 and SDSS show it clearly as a knot (it is probably a superassociation similar to NGC 604 in M 33, or 30 Doradus (NGC 2070) in the LMC). The two objects are not resolved on the print of the original plate. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4182 is a large, well-known, low-surface-brightness, late-type spiral in Canes Venatici. It has been "on the radar" of astronomers since SN1937C burst on the scene. If there is a nucleus, it is very faint. The small red object near the center of the "bar" that shows up on the SDSS image may well be the nucleus; it seems to be slightly non-stellar in the SDSS image, and also shows up on the DSS2 infrared image. The position I've adopted for the galaxy is for this object. Caution, however, leads me to suggest that this red object could simply be a superposed Galactic star, a resolved giant star in IC 4182 itself, or a small HII region in the galaxy. ===== IC 4185. The last nebula in Max Wolf's 6th list, his description clearly states "* 15 north meas[ured]." Dreyer overlooked the last word, so the IC description simply reads "att * 15 n." The object that Wolf measured is actually a rather faint galaxy, apparently interacting with the larger slightly distorted spiral to the south. Since Wolf obviously saw both objects on his plate, I've made the two of them IC 4185 itself, but have labeled the brighter object I4185s, and the fainter I4185n. See IC 3636 for more about the discovery plate. ===== IC 4186 is a pair of stars (there is another somewhat fainter star just to the west-northwest). They are merged into one image on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. Presumeably, they are also merged on the orginal plate. ===== IC 4190 is a star about 3 arcmin following IC 4182. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4192 is a defect on the 16-inch Bruce refractor plate which Wolf examined. The object is marked on the print that plate that I've looked at, but it appears on neither POSS1 nor POSS2. ===== IC 4194 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4195 is a star; the SDSS shows it to be single, not double as I had queried based on the DSS1 image. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4196 = NGC 4970. Swift found this and two other nebulae (I4180 and I4197) in the area on 27 February 1898. My guess is that he simply forgot to check the NGC, or else he did check and missed NGC 4970. WH's position is very close to the modern positions, and Swift's is within two arcmin of WH's. However, Dreyer also missed the identity, as did Howe when he went over the field, presumably in 1899 (his note in MNRAS 61, 31, 1900 where he also corrects the position for IC 4197, Swift's "3rd of 3"). The galaxy is positively identified by Swift's note "11m * near p". Dreyer adopted Howe's distance (4 arcmin) to the star for the IC description. ===== IC 4197. See IC 4196. ===== IC 4198 = NGC 4979. Javelle describes the single galaxy at this position correctly ("F, cS, R" in the IC), but then adds a footnote, "Distinct from NGC 4979," which suggests that he saw two objects here. Since there is only one galaxy in the field, and since Javelle's position is within three arcsec of the nucleus of that, we have to conclude that his observation in fact refers to WH's object. My guess is that his footnote applies to another of his "novae", and that the NGC number got confused during reduction and preparation for publication. But that is just a guess. Dreyer first noticed the identity when he examined Wolf's ninth list of new nebulae found photographically at Heidelburg. In his brief 1912 Monthly Notices list of NGC corrections based on his edition of WH's Scientific Papers, he says, "III. 346 must be = I.C. 4198, as Wolf's ninth list has only one object there (No. 105)." ===== IC 4199 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4203 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4205 = IC 853. Swift found I4205 on 23 May 1897, the same night as IC 3791 (which see) with which it shares a +5 arcmin offset in declination from the modern position. Swift's description is appropriate for the galaxy, so I'm pretty well convinced of the identity. Swift catalogued IC 853 in June of 1890 while he was still in Rochester: it was actually found by his son Edward. The position and description are near enough to the fairly isolated galaxy to preclude any other identification. Swift must have been well enough aware of his poor positions to check that his "novae" were indeed "novae." I suspect, though, that the lure of fame was too much for him, so that he simply accepted objects as new if his positions put them further than a few arcminutes from a known nebula. Unfortunately, there is little evidence in his papers to suggest that he often tried to recover his nebulae. He surely would have been disappointed had he made the attempt. ===== IC 4206 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4208 is a star. The correct object is marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined. ===== IC 4209. See IC 4136. ===== IC 4211 is a star with a fainter nearby companion. The brighter star is clearly seen and marked on a print of the original Bruce 16-inch refractor plate which Wolf examined, but the fainter star is not there. ===== IC 4212. See IC 4136. ===== IC 4222 = IC 879. Even though Swift has the position a degree south, he says in his description for IC 4222 "[NGC] 5078 nr nf." This makes it certain that his object is identical to IC 879, found a few years earlier by Ormond Stone (this is one of the few "novae" found at Leander McCormick after the astronomers there began their long series of micrometric measurements). This, by the way, is one of Lewis Swift's last new nebulae, found in March of 1898, and published only in his big 11th "catalogue of new nebulas" in AN. It missed his 8th list of nebulae found at Lowe Observatory by a few days, so we do not have a published verification of the 1 degree declination error. But the sky and Swift's description provide all the verification we need. Another by the way: I had earlier thought that this might be a double star near Swift's published position -- I was wrong. Andris, Wolfgang, and Malcolm all got it right before I got back around to fixing it. ===== IC 4233 = NGC 5124. Swift found this on the night of 31 December 1897. Though he calls it "eeF, pS, R," his additional note "trapezium near sf" makes the identification with NGC 5124 certain: the stars are there. Swift's RA is 50 seconds of time too small. This is the brightest of a compact, interacting group of four galaxies. JH saw the two brightest (the other is NGC 5126), and I suspect that modern southern observers could dig out the other two with 15-20-inch class telescopes. ===== IC 4236 = NGC 5118. Swift's declination is 10 arcmin too small; otherwise, his position is good for a change, and his description (especially the note "... in vacancy ...") is entirely appropriate. There are two other minor problems here. Swift published two different RA's for the object, and his description of the form of the nebula varies, too. The first paper (PASP 9,186,1897) has the RA 10 arcsec too large, and the description is misprinted "... CE ...." In MN 57, 629, 1897, he has the correct position, and the description correctly reads "... cE ...." He transfered the correct RA to his ninth long list in AN 3004, but he transcribed the description as "... eE ...." Dreyer took this ninth list to be definitive, so the IC2 data agree with it rather than either of the first two papers. ===== IC 4257 is one of 7 nebulae near M 51 found by Keeler on two Lick 36-inch reflector plates. The other six are all in their measured places, but there is no trace of IC 4257 where Keeler placed it. The original position, published in a short Monthly Notices paper, is not significantly different from a refined position that appears in the Lick Publications, Volume 8, a few years later. About 4 arcmin north of the published position, however, is a faint galaxy that pretty well matches Keeler's description. However, the position is not exactly 4 arcmin north, even taking into account systematic offsets (from modern positions) of +0.3 sec and +4 arcsec in Keeler's positions for the other six galaxies. This makes a simple typo unlikely, suggesting some sort of mistake in measurement or reduction on Keeler's part. However, Keeler claims to have seen the object on two plates, so one would think that a mistake working on one would be found by comparison with the other. Whatever happened, we cannot now be sure which galaxy Keeler measured. I've also listed a nearby star that could -- really stretching here -- be Keeler's object. ===== IC 4271 is the northern of a close pair; Javelle's position falls within the galaxy. He calls his object "granule'" (mottled), so I suspect that he glimpsed the southern galaxy as well. ===== IC 4274 = NGC 5189. Found by Williamina Fleming on a Harvard objective prism plate, this was put into the second IC with the north polar distance of 115 degrees rather than the correct 155 degrees (the Harvard Annals, Volume 60, lists the declination as -65 degrees). Unfortunately, this simple typo has been carried over into NGC 2000.0 as a 40 degree error in the declination of I4274. N5189's position there is correct, however. ===== IC 4287 is part of a double, interacting system; the western component is considerably brighter and larger and is undoubtedly the one that Javelle saw. There is a star or compact companion to the northeast; Javelle may have glimpsed this as he comments, "I suspect another nearby". There appears to be a bridge between this northeastern object and the galaxy pair in the DSS1 image, but its reality is not confirmed in the SDSS image. ===== IC 4291. Though described by Innes as "... a small round nebula about 1' in diameter, brighter towards the centre [sic]", this is actually a fairly compact open cluster. Its overall size is about 5 x 3 arcmin, while there is a more compact core 2.0 x 1.8 arcmin. I suspect it was this core that Innes saw with the Royal Observatory's 7-inch refractor at the Cape of Good Hope. ===== IC 4299. See NGC 3260. ===== IC 4308 is, at least for now, lost. Javelle's offsets and notes do not fit any star-galaxy pair in the area, so a wide-ranging search will have to be done. Here are some details. Javelle's measurements on 17 June 1903 are +1m 58.58s, +5' 50.4" (declination, not NPD) from a star with magnitude 9.3 which he calls "BD +33 2354". He has one of his rare notes on this star: "Double; I took the second, the brighter." The BD star he names is not double. I thought at first that UGC 8539 and BD +33 2345 (m = 9.3 -- caught my eye, of course) might be Javelle's object and comparison star, but the position differences do not match his measurements -- they are about 6 seconds of time and 1.4 arcmin off. Wolfgang took a pair of very faint galaxies with an equally faint star superposed. The three are well beyond the limit of even the 30-inch refractor that Javelle was using at Nice. So, we need to keep looking for IC 4308. In early August 2015, I came back to this object. Looking for a double star that Javelle might have used, I came across BD +33 2355, just one digit off Javelle's nominal star. The eastern star is the brighter, just as Javelle noted for his comparison star. Unfortunately, there is no galaxy at his offsets nor at any combination of signs with the same numerical offsets. I've also found no other star in the area that might have been his double. The search continues. ===== IC 4317 is sometimes taken to be the brighter CGCG 161-122 six arcmin south of Javelle's position. But when his position is re-reduced with respect to the AC 2000.2 position for his comparison star, BD +27 2283, it falls within five arcseconds of the nucleus of the fainter northern object. There is no doubt about which galaxy Javelle saw. It probably has a higher surface brightness than the larger, brighter galaxy to the south. So, this is a well-documented case where a visual observer missed a brighter object, but picked up a fainter one nearby. ===== IC 4318 has two bright knots more or less in the middle of the object with spiral arms apparently emerging from both. It looks to me like a) a superposed interacting pair of galaxies; or b) a galaxy with two nuclei; or c) a galaxy with a bright knot approximately 7 arcseconds southwest of the nucleus. Unfortunately, there are not yet (as of August 2015) any detailed studies of this galaxy cited in NED. Thus, the choice of interpretation of the images is pretty much based on the experience of the observer. I'm in favor the last of the options I listed in the previous paragraph, based on the appearance of the galaxy in the three DSS2 images: this looks to me like a high-surface- brightness SA:(s)c pec I-II spiral with a bright knot southwest of the nucleus. ===== IC 4329 is a bright southern galaxy not swept up by JH. Ironically, he did find several other galaxies near it, so there are now NGC galaxies in the "IC 4329 Group." A Seyfert galaxy near the IC object is now commonly called "IC 4329A". It is almost exactly edgewise to our line of sight, yet the Seyfert nucleus shines through. I classified this as "S0+ sp", so it may not have much dust to block the light of the nucleus. Also see IC 953 for a curious historical sidelight on this group. ===== IC 4330. There is nothing in Frost's place, but exactly two minutes preceding is a galaxy (ESO 445- G027) meeting his description: "Ellip., 1.0' by 0.5', magn. 13.5." Frost's printed RA is probably a typo or transcription error. Malcolm has suggested that Frost's object might be ESO 445- G051. This is less likely, I think, because there would have to be two position errors: 0.1 minute in RA (a possible digit error), and about 7 arcmin in Dec. Frost's description also does not match the likely appearance of the galaxy on his plate. The faint outer ring would probably not be visible on the plate, and the bright bulge of the galaxy is nearly round, so most likely appeared stellar. ===== IC 4335 is a single (or a very close double?) star at Bigourdan's position. He has two measurements of it on 25 May 1895. His description is apt, and he correctly notes the position angle -- 10 degrees -- and distance -- 2.5 arcmin -- of a nearby 13th magnitude star (actually a merged multiple star; I cannot tell for sure on the DSS image how many stars are involved). The identity is secure. ===== IC 4338 = NGC 5334. Swift has somehow confused NGC 5334 with a new nebula. He has two different dates for it, too (20 April 1897 is probably correct; this appears twice: in the big AN "Catalogue No. 11", and in the shorter second list from Lowe Observatory as published in MNRAS. The PASP version of the list has 30 April 1897). His description clearly refers to the NGC galaxy, except -- well, read it for yourself (this is the PASP version; that in MNRAS is the same). "vL, eF, C[sic]E n & s; in field with 5334. A F st close to each end of major axis. See note." His note reads "This is a remarkable object. I have never seen one just like it. It resembles an elliptical planetary nebula. The light is evenly diffused, and the limb sharp as a planet. Strange, Sir William Herschel missed it, being so near his III 665. Munich 9619 is nf 121 seconds." All this positively identifies NGC 5334 as the object Swift saw. His position, of course, is off in RA (10 seconds of time), though is pretty close in declination (just half an arcminute south). If the star he mentions is SAO 139616 (at 13 52 17.92, -00 51 44.7, B1950.0; actually 118 seconds east of the galaxy), then there is no doubt at all. So, why did he think that WH's nebula was nearby? Is it possible that he picked up UGC 8801, thinking -- because of its higher surface brightness -- that it is H III 665 = NGC 5334? The UGC galaxy is the only other object in the area that Swift might have mistaken for N5334, but it seems a stretch to me. In any event, the identity of the IC object is certain, as is that of the NGC galaxy -- they are one and the same. ===== IC 4339. We had taken this as the 12th magnitude star northwest of IC 4341 without looking at Javelle's observation carefully. His position is over a minute of arc away from the star (which, by the way, he mentions in his description of IC 4341), and his description "Faint, nearly round, 20 to 25 [arcseconds in diameter], mottled" does not match a star at all. If I reverse the sign of his north polar distance offset, his position falls within an arcminute of IC 4340. Is this perhaps the object he observed? (There is nothing at any of the other offsets implied by sign changes.) If so, there remain unresolved problems with his observation. So, question marks abound here! ===== IC 4340 may also be IC 4339 (which see) -- but problems remain even if so. ===== IC 4341. See IC 4339. It is worth noting here that Javelle mentions the 12th magnitude star to the northwest in his description: "Faint, small, nearly round, 20 to 25 [arcseconds in diameter], mottled, near a star of 12th magnitude." We had mistakenly taken this star to be IC 4339 for some time. ===== IC 4347 = NGC 5367. As usual, there is no question about which object JH found and measured. It is the brightest nebula in a group of reflection nebulae, this particular one around a double star, also discovered by JH (JH4636). Swift rediscovered this on 30 December 1897. That it is indeed the same nebula that JH saw is confirmed by Swift's note (published in the Popular Astronomy and MNRAS incarnations of his paper, but not in the big collected "11th Catalogue" in AN): This is a nebulous star, the only one I have ever found. The central star is about 8m, and surrounded with an exceedingly faint atmosphere. An 8m star follows 15s, which was free from nebulosity. This description is virtually identical to one of JH's: Very faint; 2-arcmin diameter; a * 9 m following, is about 4 arcmin distant, is unaffected with nebulosity. In another description, he refers to it as "A close double star in a very large, bright luminous atmosphere, 2-arcmin diameter." All this consistency means that Swift simply rediscovered NGC 5367. There are some minor differences between Swift's various published positions and descriptions, and the NGC description, but not enough to affect the final verdict in this case. I have given positions for the various brighter stars involved in the nebulosity, and have adopted that for JH's double star (Swift's "central star") for that of the NGC/IC object itself. ===== IC 4350. See NGC 3260. ===== IC 4353. This may be one of Bigourdan's illusory nebulae. Or it may be, as Wolfgang suggests, a star near Bigourdan's estimated position. However, the nominal position falls in a void between two 15th magnitude stars. And Bigourdan correctly notes the distance to his comparison star if he "saw" his object at his nominal position -- the distance would be off if he actually meant either of the stars to be his "nova". His full description reads, "Object of doubtful aspect which could be a small cluster, perhaps accompanied by a little nebulosity." Considering everything, I think that this is another of his "fausse images." ===== IC 4365 = NGC 5437. Bigourdan measured all three of Tempel's nebulae and thought he'd found a fourth. However, his "nova" is actually a star that he mislabeled "NGC 5436." He also mislabeled N5436 itself as "N5437," and put the number "IC 4365" on N5437 (this piece of his big table was published after IC2 had appeared). His measurements of the four objects are good; it's just his labels that are not. ===== IC 4369, IC 4370, and IC 4371 are three of the galaxies in Hickson's compact group number 70. They do not include the brightest galaxy in the group, but Javelle saw that as a 14th magnitude star near IC 4370. His micrometrically measured positions, re-reduced using a modern position for his comparison star, accurately point to the galaxies he did see. The identifications have been mangled badly in the modern literature, but Javelle's positions are definitive. I've included catalogue names and numbers in the position table for all the galaxies in Hickson 70 labeled in his Atlas. ===== IC 4370 is in Hickson 70, and a companion of IC 4369, which see. ===== IC 4371 is in Hickson 70, and a companion of IC 4369, which see. ===== IC 4375 = NGC 5488, which see. ===== IC 4376 is almost certainly the line of three stars listed in the position list. The only possible question is the position angle: Stewart has 40 degrees, while the stars are actually at 64 degrees. This is close enough, however, to make the identification very sure. It was first suggested in one of the Helwan papers, Andris picked up on it for ESO, and so did I during the SGC work. Wolfgang also took the stars. We'll go with them. ===== IC 4381 = NGC 5008, which see. ===== IC 4383. Found by Bigourdan 1.7' north-preceding NGC 5504, the discovery position is good, though was estimated only, not measured. This has not prevented CGCG and UGC from misidentifying the galaxy straight north of N5504 as I4383. Fortunately, MCG has it right, so RC3 also got it right. This is also Holmberg 601b from his 1937 thesis on double and multiple galaxies. Holmberg did not include IC numbers in his table, only NGC numbers. So, a few reasonably well-known IC galaxies are rarely traced back to his early work. ===== IC 4385 is most likely the asterism of 4-5 stars about 1.5 arcmin west of the nominal position. There is nothing else around that matches Frost's description ("R, lbM, d 0.2 arcmin") and position as well, though the star field is fairly rich this close to the Milky Way. Perhaps another asterism is the correct one; we need to check the Harvard plate to be sure. The galaxy that ESO suggested is much too faint to have turned up even on a four-hour Bruce plate, and the position is 14 arcminutes off, too (you know how much I like digit errors -- 14 arcminutes is not a digit error). So, I'm adopting the asterism. It fits well enough. ===== IC 4392. I think that this is the line of 4-5 stars about four arcmin north of the nominal position. The position angle is correct, and there is a "F * sf" just as Stewart says. Given that he found it on only a single one-hour plate, the declination difference is probably within his nominal errors. So, while the identification is not certain, I'm fairly confident that it is nevertheless correct. In this case, I've left off my usual colons. ===== IC 4394. There is nothing at Bigourdan's position, which is about six arcmin north-northwest of NGC 5541. He has only one measurement of the position, referred to AGK1 (Bonn) 9350 = SAO 064040. His table has the RA of this star 10 seconds too large, but that does not help us find his nebula. In the immediate area, there are no galaxies at similar offsets from other stars of similar brightness. I suspect Bigourdan misidentified his comparison star, but with no candidates in the area, this remains only a suspicion. Wolfgang originally put the IC number on MCG +07-29-058, but this is 3 arcmin off of Bigourdan's position and does not match his measured position angle and distance at all. In his latest list, Wolfgang has given a nominal position and listed the object as "Not found." A check of Bigourdan's supplemental observations and his errata lists turned up no more information on this object, so this observation will probably remain a mystery. Another "fausse image", perhaps? ===== IC 4400 is a pretty compact group of six brighter stars with half a dozen fainter scattered among them. Four of them make a fairly tight trapezoid (noted by Andris Lauberts for ESO), while two others are a bit off to the northwest. The four stars are the ones that all of us have adopted for the group. I'm now calling this "IC 4400e". However, Innes notes that the object is "elongated." Did his object also include the additional 2 stars about an arcminute to the northwest? If so, the J2000 position becomes 14 22 11.0, -60 34 02. These are far enough away that I'm not sure that they would have merged with the others, even with a night of very bad seeing. Still, an observation with a 6- or 7-inch refractor would be useful to confirm this speculation. In the meantime, mindful of Innes's "elongated" comment, I am giving the position of IC 4400 as that of all six stars. But I have also listed the position for just the four eastern stars. You may choose. ===== IC 4401. See IC 997 and IC 998. ===== IC 4402 is a large, pretty bright, nearly edgewise, spiral galaxy that JH missed. It turned up on one of the Harvard plates that Frost examined. It's nucleus is very faint and not at all clear on any of the southern survey plates. There is also a star (or knot?) just a few arcseconds north of the position of the apparent nucleus -- the 2MASS positions appear to be a blend of the central region of the galaxy and the star. Given that, and the lack of any other position from automated surveys, I have reluctantly adopted my own positions from the DSS2 red plate. A higher-resolution image is clearly needed for this fine galaxy. ===== IC 4404 is a star. The number is often assigned to the faint galaxy just north of NGC 5547, and some have speculated that it might be identical to N5547 itself. However, Bigourdan's precise measurements on one night, and an estimated position on another, point exactly to the star. In addition, he measured N5547 on that same second night, so the two objects are clearly different. I had the position for IC 4404 wrong for a while. The correct (B1950) RA has "11" for the minutes, not "10". Mea culpa. ===== IC 4407 is perhaps identical with NGC 5324. The IC object was discovered by W.H. Finlay on 20 Sept 1883 with one or the other of the 6- or 7-inch equatorial refractors at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. Finlay's position is the crude result of a reading of the setting circles, 14h 14m, -5d 21m for 1860. The short note in the March 1898 issue of MNRAS gives no description for the nebula. We've usually assumed that the position is 2 minutes of time off, and that Finlay's nebula is MCG -01-37-005. But, as was pointed out to me by Courtney Seligman, Malcolm Thomson has suggested that this galaxy is too faint for Finlay to have seen. Indeed, Malcolm asked fellow observer Curtis Croulet to search for the MCG galaxy with a 12.5-inch reflector; Croulet was unable to see the small spiral. My suspicion is that Finlay's RA is wrong; telescopes on fixed equatorial mounts are usually set so that the declination is accurate, but the RA depends on an accurate clock setting. So I searched for digit errors in the RA. If the RA of Finlay's object is actually 13h 44m -- just 30 minutes west of his printed place -- then it is likely that NGC 5324 is his object. The declinations are the same, and the NGC object is certainly bright enough for Finlay to have seen. None of this is conclusive, of course, but lacking any other reasonable candidates -- there are none at other positions suggested by digit errors in declination as well as right ascension -- NGC 5324 at least rates a table entry with question marks. ===== IC 4411 is probably a plate defect. The faint spindle suggested in ESO-B is much fainter than any other galaxy that Stewart found on the 1hr Bruce plate, and its position is well off (-1m 38s, -5.5 arcmin). All the other IC galaxies on the plate -- save one with a 10 arcmin declination digit error -- are within an arcminute of their nominal positions. There are no galaxies with digit errors that could be I4411, either. We need to check the Bruce plate, presumeably still at Harvard. ===== IC 4412 = NGC 5594, which see. ===== IC 4414 = IC 1008, which see. ===== IC 4424 = IC 1016, which see. ===== IC 4430 is probably ESO 385- G030 with a 10 arcmin error in the Declination. Stewart found this on a one-hour Bruce plate where it probably would have indeed appeared "cF, cS, indistinct". Nevertheless, the galaxy is large and bright enough to be a candidate for the NGC, let alone the IC. It is in good company -- there are several dozen others in the south that JH also missed during his sweeping from the Cape. I noticed the error through comparison with Wolfgang's position. Malcolm may have caught this, too. ===== IC 4431 = IC 1012, which see. ===== IC 4432. This is Delisle Stewart's No. 406 in the Harvard Annals, Volume 60. It is usually taken as ESO 326- G025, but there are several problems with that identification that led Malcolm Thomson to list IC 4432 as "not found". This, in turn, led Courtney Seligman, early in January 2014, to question my unnoted acceptance of the ESO galaxy (also known as PGC 51727) as the IC object. Looking again at the problem, I now believe that the IC object may well be an asterism. Here is the story, based on what I wrote to Courtney: I'm pretty sure now that PGC 51727 is not the IC object. Courtney pointed out that the position angle is wrong, and that is where a good part of the doubt comes in. The position itself is not a particularly big problem as Stewart's positions were estimated using overlays; digit errors are, if not frequent, at least present in his list (see e.g. IC 4430). And the declination is well within Stewart's nominal errors (2+- arcmin), so the 1.5 arcmin difference is not a serious problem, either. But the major problem here is that the plate on which IC 4432 was found was a one-hour exposure with a slow, blue emulsion using the 24-inch Bruce telescope at Arequipa in Peru. Here is an interesting statement, probably by Edward Pickering, Harvard's director at the time, from HA 60 where IC 4432 was first listed: "Nearly fourteen times as many new nebulae were found, on the average, on the plates of four hours exposure as on those of one hour exposure. It appears, therefore, that the NGC contains, in general, nearly as faint nebulae as can be photographed with the Bruce Telescope, with an exposure of one hour." (Pickering gives numbers that back up this calculation.) So, I doubt very much that PGC 51727 is the IC object as it would have to have been about as bright as a faint southern NGC object to show up on a one-hour plate. Instead, it is considerably fainter than that. I would look instead to a couple of the asterisms in the area of the position given by Stewart. One of these in particular caught my eye: the line of five stars just southeast of Stewart's position (the positions of the stars are in the position table). The position angle of the line is close to Stewart's 85 degrees, and its length is such that it could mimic a small, edgewise galaxy. We'd need to look at the Harvard plate to be sure about this, of course. I also see another line of three stars, also with a PA of 85-90 degrees, just west of Stewart's position; positions for those stars are also in the table. It's also possible that plate defects are involved here. That would of course need to be verified on the plate as well. ===== IC 4437 is another of Barnard's unpublished discoveries. The NGC position and description (such as it is: "No descr., * 8 mag nf") is all we have. There is nothing at the position, and the 8th magnitude star that Barnard notes is south-preceding his position, not north-following. There is, however, a faint, star about 1.5 arcmin from Barnard's position. Barnard probably could have seen this, and it's possible that he got his directions confused in an inverting eyepiece. (I had previously noted this star as a double; Courtney Seligman points out that the better resolution of the SDSS image clearly show it to be single.) Another, more remote possibility, is that Barnard picked up NGC 5630. But that is 15 arcmin south-southeast of his position, and the star east-northeast of it is over eight arcmin away. It is also 10th or 11th magnitude; would Barnard have bothered to mention it without describing his nebula? I doubt it. ===== IC 4441 = IC 4444. This is another bad position from Swift -- there is nothing in his place. IC 4444, however, is 16 seconds following and 6.0 arcmin north, and it matches Swift's description (Courtney Seligman pointed out that I had IC 4444 incorrectly "south" of IC 4441's position in earlier versions of this file; my thanks to him for the correction). Stewart hinted at the identity, noting the offsets to Swift's object. Frost also found the galaxy on another Harvard plate, and the position in Stewart's list is good. ESO (SGC followed along) made I4441 = to ESO 272- G011. This is incorrect as this ESO object is too faint for Swift to have seen as far south as it is. Even had he seen it, he surely would have commented on the several bright stars nearby. It remained for Malcolm to sort this one out, which he did in his usual inimitable style. ===== IC 4444 = IC 4441, which see. ===== IC 4453. This is one of the five nebulae that Swift found on the night of 22 February 1898; it is one of the three that we can identify. See IC 2595 for more. This is also one of Swift's prototypical double objects; see NGC 3260 for more on that. ===== IC 4455 = NGC 5664, which also see for a somewhat longer story (the NGC object comes from Leander McCormick). Stewart's RA is 45 seconds off, but his declination and description from a one-hour plate ("eF, eS, cE at 30 degrees") is good enough to identify the galaxy he saw. ===== IC 4458. Malcolm Thomson reasonably suggests that this object is the line of three stars in the correct position angle (100 degrees) just an arcminute or so southeast of Stewart's position. The galaxy (ESO 327- G003) taken by ESO as the IC object, +1 minute in RA and -2 arcmin in Dec, is much too faint to have been picked up on the 1-hour Bruce plate. The position angle does not match well, either. As with IC 4432, Courtney Seligman alerted me to Malcolm's comments on this object. ===== IC 4461 and IC 4462. Steve Gottlieb has pointed out that these have been misidentified in the modern catalogues. Though the largest galaxy in the group (VV 303, Arp 95) is also the brightest, its surface brightness is just enough lower that Javelle perhaps did not see it when he measured the other two objects. Also, IC 4461 has a star just 9 arcsec south; it seems likely to me that this is a part of Javelle's object as his position is between that star and the galaxy. In any case, Javelle's positions are good enough -- referred to the AC 2000.2 position for his comparison star -- that there is no doubt as to which objects he saw. ===== IC 4462. See IC 4461. ===== IC 4465 is noted as "lE 180 deg" by Frost. The position angle is actually closer to 85 deg. This may be a misprint, or it may suggest that the image on the discovery plate is flawed in some way. Frost's position is good, and there are no other likely candidates nearby, so I do not doubt the identification. But the position angle is a bit of a mystery. Checking the original Bruce plate might clear up the question. ===== IC 4470. Bigourdan's single estimated position from an observation on 11 July 1887 lands not far from an edgewise galaxy. Yet he calls it a star cluster, so there has been some question about the identification. His full description is informative: "Object which, at first sight, could be nebulous, but in which I suspect several stellar points. It is therefore a cluster enveloped in nebulosity; it is vaguely elongated at 90 degrees and is 1 arcmin long by 40 arcsec wide." Reference to the field shows the galaxy surrounded by three stars. Could one or more of these be Bigourdan's "stellar points"? Perhaps the nucleus of the galaxy also appeared stellar under the conditions prevailing when Bigourdan made his observation. In any event, there is no problem with the identification. The PA of the galaxy, by the way, is about 95 degrees, close to Bigourdan's estimate. That was how things stood until I received a fairly surprising email in June of 2014 from Steve Gottlieb -- he pointed out that WH actually mentioned this object. In his observation of NGC 5712, Herschel writes, "It [NGC 5712] is preceded by a S patch of sts which appears almost like this nebula, but more resolved." He calls NGC 5712 itself "vF, S, r"; so the fact that the preceding patch is "more resolved" is significant. And it agrees with Bigourdan's observation of nearly a century later. Yet the IC object is clearly a galaxy. Its edge looks a bit serrated in the DSS2 images, so it's possible that it is an edgewise late-type galaxy with bright knots included. In any event, here is another object that was known before the NGC, yet did not receive an NGC number. At least it got picked up for the IC! There is, of course, an entry for this in the "notngc" files. ===== IC 4471 = NGC 5697. Bigourdan went over this area on two nights. On the first, 6 June 1894, he found a faint nebula that he could not measure because of a poor sky. He estimated its position as 30 seconds of time following and 36 arcsec south of BD +42 2516. This is close to a double star about 0.8 arcmin southwest of NGC 5697. However, that estimated position has relatively large errors, and Bigourdan did not mention NGC 5697 itself in his descriptive note. He does, however, say, "[The nebula] is preceded by a star 11.5 situated in the middle of the distance between BD +42 2516 and this nebula." That star is his comparison star for his measurements of NGC 5697 on the second night, 4 May 1899. His reduced observation places the galaxy within a few arcsec of the modern position (surprisingly, the galaxy is in the Tycho-2 star catalogue; is there a star superposed, or does it have a stellar nucleus?). However, on this night, Bigourdan claims that he did not see the faint nebula that he found five years earlier. Nor does he mention the new nebula in his note for NGC 5697. His note on the second night for IC 4471, his "nova," reads in full: "Not seen; [then, in italics] I looked for it preceding the star BD +42 2516." I think that during preparing his observations for publication, he realized his mistake and inserted the italicized part of the note. In any event, he never observed more than one nebula at a time in this field. Also, the combined magnitude for the double star (15.6) is about a magnitude fainter than the magnitude for NGC 5697 (14.7). So, I think that his observations for his "nova" and for NGC 5697 actually refer to the same object. ===== IC 4486 and IC 4487. These are two galaxies near Royal Frost's positions and matching his descriptions. They were, however, misidentified in CGCG and that confusion has carried on into the more recent catalogues and databases. CGCG picked up a pair of galaxies in the area. It mistakenly called the brighter galaxy (CGCG 1439.3+1846) IC 4486, leaving IC 4487 to go on their other galaxy (CGCG 1439.5+1847). Frost's description of the southwestern object, however, "vF and dif[fuse], R, 0'.2" makes clear which object he was seeing on his 4-hour Bruce plate. His description of the northeastern galaxy of his pair, "F, R, lbM, d 0'.1" is also appropriate. I think that he missed the brighter CGCG galaxy southwest of IC 4486 because it appeared stellar on his plate. In short, there are three galaxies here. The northeastern pair is included in the IC, the southwestern pair in the CGCG. This is another set of identification problems kindly sent to me by Courtney Seligman. ===== IC 4487. See IC 4486. ===== IC 4490 is only a double star; there is no nebulosity surrounding it. There is also no mistaking the identification as Innes describes the field perfectly: "Elliptical neb. surrounding two stars as if they were the foci of an eclipse [sic], mags 9.5 and 10. The Cor. D.M. mag. of the chief star is 9.7. In a high-power field with Lac. 6076 [= SAO 205904]." He adopts the position of the Cordoba Durchmusterung, too, so there can be no doubt as to the double star he saw. There is just no nebulosity around the stars. It was perhaps an optical effect of some sort due to the proximity of the 7th magnitude star just 1.5 arcmin north; or it could have been as simple as bad seeing or dew on a lens somewhere in the optical chain. ===== IC 4491 = IC 1055. Stewart's RA is three minutes of time off, apparently a mismeasurement. His description reads "F, S, eE at 0 degrees (I.C.1055, J.318, f 3.0m, same dec.)". It's not clear from this whether he saw something on his plate at what he thought was I1055's position, but there is certainly nothing at the position he gives for his object. The description, and the even three-minute error, make it clear that the two numbers refer to the same object. ===== IC 4493 = NGC 5747, which see. ===== IC 4494 may be CGCG 105-013 = MCG +03-38-003 -- but it may also be CGCG 105-014 = MCG +03-38-004. The first is closer to Frost's nominal position, but the second is a virtually perfect match for his description: "vF and dif., R, d 0.2 arcmin". Given that the 4-hour Bruce plate on which Frost found the galaxy has a limiting magnitude of about 17, the galaxy would appear considerably smaller on that plate than on the POSS1 prints. CGCG 105-013 has an apparent diameter of 1.0 x 0.4, while C-014 has a diameter of 0.5 x 0.4. So which one did he see? We'll have to examine the plate in the Harvard archives to know for sure. In the meantime, I'm listing both objects, giving slightly more weight to the northern object (CGCG 105-013), but only because it is closer to Frost's nominal position. As I've noted, Frost's description favors the southern galaxy. ===== IC 4497 has a complex nuclear area. There is a blue knot just a couple of arcseconds northeast of the apparent nucleus, with a horseshoe-like structure just south. The SDSS image shows all of this pretty clearly. The positions I've adopted for nucleus and knot seem to represent the two features fairly well. The DSS2 images more or less follow the SDSS, but without the higher resolution of the digital scans, the situation would not be at all clear. ===== IC 4499. Stewart notes his position as "approximate", probably because of the far southern declination (he has the same comment on IC 4545 which is half a degree north). The identification is nevertheless secure as his description "vF cl, 4' diam, 3 F sts inv in cl, pos approximate, susp[ected]." Stewart's diameter is correct for the core of the cluster, and the three stars are there. The position, as for most of the Galactic globulars, is not as well-determined as for the majority of the galaxies. However, the center of the core can be pretty well pinned down, and the positions of Stewart's three stars -- all likely foreground of the cluster, by the way -- are well-determined. This is one of just a handful of Galactic globular clusters in the IC; most -- at least those not obscured by the dust of the Milky Way -- are striking visually, so are included in the NGC. ===== IC 4509. There are two red knots near the center of this nearly edgewise spiral. Most of the automated surveys center on the northeastern of the two as it is closer to the center of the brighter inner section of the galaxy. To my uncertain eye, the southwestern of the two knots appears slightly brighter and larger, but not by much. With some caution, I've adopted the concensus view and the xxx position for the galaxy, but give the 2MASS PSC positions for both objects so that you can choose if you wish. ===== IC 4510 and IC 4513 are probably plate defects on Arequipa Bruce plate number 3671. This was a short-exposure plate, too, so the objects would have to be fairly bright to show up on it if they were real. There is nothing at all at the positions that Stewart gives, and he notes "indistinct, susp" for I4510. ===== IC 4511 is probably also a plate defect. Frost describes it as "Dif[fuse], R, lbM, d 0.6 arcmin." There is nothing like this anywhere near his nominal position. ===== IC 4513 is probably a plate defect. See IC 4510. ===== IC 4514. See IC 4550. ===== IC 4515. Javelle got the sign on his north polar distance offset wrong. Once that is corrected, his position lands right on CGCG 193-005. ===== IC 4516 is probably the last object discovered by Lewis Swift; the date was 2 June 1898. See IC 1604 and IC 4550. ===== IC 4518 itself is the western and slightly brighter of a pair of interacting galaxies. The eastern object, mentioned in the description but not given a separate entry in either Frost's list or the IC, has a bright plume extending back to the northwest -- this is sometimes taken as a separate object. On the DSS, the two lie under the diffraction spike of a bright star a few arcminutes to the east. Frost's plates were all taken with a refractor, so don't suffer from such "defects" -- though most of us simply accept these optical effects as "features" and put up with them. ===== IC 4528 is one of the relatively few real galaxies that Bigourdan found. It is just where he observed it, and the 12th magnitude star that he noted is still at PA = 300 deg and d = 2 arcmin from it. Wolfgang's choice in early editions of his lists, a minute of time preceding and 2.7 arcmin north, must have been due to a typo. ===== IC 4532 is CGCG 136-006. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. It is actually the star at 15 02 29.2, +23 24 20 (1950). Once this change is made, his measured position falls within four arcsec of the nucleus of the galaxy. And his description (summarized by Dreyer) "vF, N, stellar" fits as well. He made a similar error, but with a different comparison star, for IC 4534, which see. ===== IC 4533 may also be NGC 5840 (which see) -- but probably is not. ===== IC 4534 is UGC 9713. Javelle misidentified his comparison star. It is actually the star at 15 03 17.6, +23 55 10 (1950). Once this change is made, his measured position falls within half an arcsec of the nucleus of the galaxy. And his description (summarized by Dreyer) "pB, S, Ens, N" fits as well. However, in spite of the similarity of errors, Javelle did not use the same comparison star for IC 4532 (which see). He discovered I4534 three nights later on 28 July 1903, and the positions are about half a degree different. ===== IC 4535. Wolfgang chose the wrong galaxy, apparently because the one at Javelle's place is so faint. However, it fits his (Javelle's) position to within 2 arcsec, and the faint star mentioned in the description is indeed southwest by about an arcminute. I would guess that the object's appearance on RealSky is somewhat degraded by the extra digitization so that it looks stellar. The object that Wolfgang chose can be ruled out by applying Javelle's measurements to the galaxy using the opposite signs. Were it the correct galaxy, a fairly bright comparison star would be at the offsets -- there is none. ===== IC 4540 is lost, unless Wolfgang's guess that it is the double star a few arcmin north of SAO 120946 is correct. In this case, Swift's position is 45 seconds of time and 3 arcmin off, not unusually large for Swift's later positions. His description "B * in field n partly obscures it" has the star misplaced if Wolfgang is correct -- it is south of Wolfgang's double rather than north. Nevertheless, the double is the only reasonable possibility that I see in the area, so I've kept it in the table. Interestingly, M 5 (NGC 5904) is about 20 arcmin northwest of the double. I wonder if Swift saw it while he was sweeping for new nebulae, and if he did, why he did not mention it in his note for I4540. Finally, I should note that I checked every "bright" star in this POSS1 field and found no "vF, pS, mE" galaxy near any of them. My hesitation in accepting the double star as Swift's object is that it is close enough that he probably would have called it "vS" or "eS" rather than just "pS". Well, I've put it in the table, anyway, like it or not: it is certainly a candidate and Swift has been further off in describing many other of his "novae". ===== IC 4543 = IC 1118. Though Swift's position falls within a couple of arcmin of NPM1G +13.0409, that galaxy is not IC 4543. Instead, the brighter IC 1118 (correctly measured by Javelle) with the faint star northwest mentioned by Swift, is the correct object that he saw at Lowe in June 1897. Swift's data are consistently given in the three lists where he published the object (AN 147, 209, 1898; MN 57, 629, 1897; and PASP 9, 186, 1897). In particular, his description reads, "eF, pS, vF * close np". ===== IC 4544 is one of Fleming's "stellar planetary nebulae" discovered on objective prism plates taken at one of Harvard's southern stations. It is also, as Brian Skiff pointed out to me, the "lost" Nova Nor 1893 = IL Nor = HD 137677. "Lost" because, unfortunately, the old Harvard position falls in a rich field of very faint stars. Also, the reference to the original paper is given incorrectly in HA 60; the object is not included in the AN (volume 128, page 11) paper of 1891 (Dreyer would have included it in IC1 if it were there). The variable star guys must have kept track of it, because the positions for IL Nor given in the catalogues of novae and cataclysmic variables are pretty close (see next paragraph) to the modern ones. Fortunately, Patrick Woudt and Brian Warner have recovered the object, and have given a finding chart for it (see their paper in astro-ph at http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.4656). Their high-speed photometry shows intra-day V-magnitude variations on the order of 0.3 mag around 18.5 to 19.0. Brian Skiff estimated the position as 15 29 23.08, -50 35 00.5 (J2000.0; 15 25 45.53, -50 24 41.8 for B1950.0) with respect to the 2MASS position for a single nearby star. Patrick Woudt, at Skiff's request, did an astrometric solution with respect to 2MASS positions for half a dozen nearby stars: 15 29 22.99, -50 35 00.4 (J2000.0; 15 25 45.44, -50 24 41.7 for B1950.0) with a formal error of less than 0.1 arcsec. These positions are (apparently coincidentally) close to, but much more accurate than the positions carried in the current catalogues of classical novae (e.g. Duerbeck, Space Science Reviews 45, 1, 1987). All these positions are given in the main table. My thanks to Brian (Skiff) for the pointer to Woudt and (Brian) Warner's recent (2010) paper. ----- For the record, the Gaia DR2 position is 15 29 23.0054, -50 35 00.438 (J2000.0), with a parallax of 0.4018 mas, and proper motions of -5.392 and -4.639 mas/yr. The BP magnitude is 18.77, and RP is 17.82. The star is the eastern and fainter of the two nearly blended images seen on the DSS2R near the Gaia DR2 position which I have adopted. ===== IC 4550 = NGC 5946 (which also see). This globular cluster is not only the southern-most of Swift's "discoveries", it is also one of his last -- he probably found it on 24 May 1898, the penultimate night on which he recorded any "new" nebulae (the very last night appearing in his lists, 2 June 1898, has two objects, IC 4514 and IC 4516). Though this object appears only in his 11th list, the date appears in his 12th list on at least two other nebulae, and probably three. There is a lot of overlap of dates between those two lists; I've wondered if Swift was careless with his observing records, or just becoming forgetful or easily distracted as he grew older. I also say "probably" above because his 12th list in MN may have a typo with the year above the date column inserted at the wrong point in the table. If it is at the right point, there is a gap of almost six months between his next-to-last night, 24 May 1898 and the last night, 11 November. It seems odd to me that he'd find only one object on that night so far removed from his previous observations, when before that there is nearly an unbroken string of discoveries from mid-1896 to mid-1898, with a few earlier in 1895. It seems more likely to me that the observation of 11 November is actually in 1897 -- especially since he found six other objects on 11 Nov 1897 -- and that the year is a typo in the 12th list table. I'd like to see Swift's original log book or records, but I do not know if it (or they) still exists. In any case, Swift's RA for this globular is 40 seconds of time too small, but his declination and description are good. He apparently did not resolve the cluster -- not surprising as it would have been, at most, only five or six degrees above his horizon. I actually am surprised that he called this "pB" (Dreyer changed this to "B" for the IC entry) -- this is one of the fainter Galactic globular clusters. There is no doubt about the identity, in spite of the object's low altitude as seen from Echo Mountain. Nothing else in the area comes close to matching Swift's observation. ===== IC 4551 = NGC 5964. Swift gives the RA only to a whole minute of time and puts a question mark after it. It turns out to be "only" 3.5 minutes of time off, and his declination is just 2.6 arcmin too far north. However, the clincher is Swift's description: "eeeF, L, R, eee dif". N5964 fits that perfectly. Lacking any other reasonable candidate within several degrees, I'm going to accept Reinmuth's suggestion and make the two numbers equal. ===== IC 4552 is almost certainly identical with UGC 9945. Swift found this the same night, 21 June 1897, as he found IC 4540 (which see). Here, however, we have a reasonable candidate matching his description, if not very well his position. Swift's description "eF, pS, R; near the 1st of 6 or 8 sts in a curved line" is accurate for U9945 -- the curved line of stars stretches to the east for 10 to 11 arcmin, just enough to nearly reach the edge of Swift's 33-arcmin field and be a striking sight with the galaxy centered. It is also further evidence of Swift's declining astrometric skills; his position is 4 minutes of time and 6.9 arcmin off. Other candidate galaxies, closer to Swift's nominal position, are fainter and do not have obvious lines of stars nearby. These include NGC 5952, NGC 5955, and UGC 9886. I don't think that we can stretch Swift's description to fit any of these as well as U9945. Nevertheless, I've put colons on the IC number as a flag of the poor position match. ===== IC 4553 = IC 1127, and IC 4554. In the recent astronomical literature, the two numbers I4553 and I4554 are usually applied to the single peculiar galaxy Arp 220 = IRAS 15327+2340. The object has two optically bright "nuclei" or knots, so it has been assumed that one IC number applies to each (the real nucleus, a strong infrared source, is actually hidden optically behind the dust lane that splits the optical image of the galaxy; it does however show through in the near-infrared. See the Pan-STARRS image for a vivid show!). However, the IC positions are from careful micrometric measurements by Javelle. That for IC 4553 is close the the GSC position for Arp 220, so that identification is secure. But Javelle's position for IC 4554 is 2.2 arcmin southeast of IC 4553, much too far from his position for IC 4553 to be the other of the optical knots. Exactly at the position given by Javelle, however, is a somewhat fainter galaxy. It matches Javelle's description, and there is no doubt that it is the real IC 4554. One other curiosity about this field: Javelle was not the discoverer of IC 4553. It was actually found in 1866 by Safford, and is IC 1127 (which see). ----- Finally, I note that for the positions of the two "nuclei", I have chosen them from among the Pan-STARRS objects in the area. I have adopted the 2MASS PSC position for the actual nucleus, though some of the radio positions would equally well represent that. ===== IC 4554. See IC 4553. ===== IC 4560. Javelle got confused in the middle of his observation about his comparison star, so he used BD +40 2905 for the RA offset and BD +40 2903 for the Dec offset (he claimed to have used +40 2903 for this object). For the other object he found on the same night near the same stars, IC 4563, he used only +40 2905. Both stars, by the way, have very high proper motions at nearly half an arcsecond per year, among the highest I've seen for comparison stars. Javelle, of course, did not know that. ===== IC 4562 is the first or second brightest in a group of six galaxies that Barnard found on August 10, 1890 with the 12-inch refractor at Lick. He gave an approximate position and a sketch which Dreyer used to derive positions for the five brightest for IC2. The sixth galaxy is a compact elliptical which Barnard mentioned in a single sentence at the end of his AN 4136 note: "The smaller nebula close following [IC 4562] is marked with a question as to whether it was a faint star." Dreyer abbreviated this comment in IC2, and I've included the object in the position table. ===== IC 4563. Javelle misidentified his comparison star for his measurement of this object: it was BD +40 2905 and not +40 2903 as he claimed. See IC 4560 for more. ===== IC 4582 appears to have a star superposed just about 1 arcsecond northeast of the nucleus. The 2MASS PSC resolves them, and both can be seen in the SDSS image (the SDSS position is a conflation of the nucleus and the star). The SDSS spectrum for the star suggests a spectral type M, probably a dwarf. Those with more experience with stellar spectra than I will be able to elaborate on this. ===== IC 4586 = NGC 6014. This is one of the last nebulae found by Lewis Swift. He gives the RA only to a whole minute of time, though he lists the declination with a precision of a tenth of an arcminute -- it is, however, off by almost six arcminutes. The identity, first suggested in Carlson's 1940 paper, is assured by Swift's notes about the field: "Between a star 8 following and a curve of stars preceding." NGC 6014 fits that description perfectly. ===== IC 4588 is very close to its IC position southeast of NGC 6051. And Dreyer added a note to Javelle's description mentioning the NGC galaxy. So, it's a bit of a mystery why MCG has equated the two numbers. UGC separated them again, and it's clear that they ought to remain that way -- there are indeed separate objects, even if they are in the same cluster (AWM 4, one of the poor clusters dominated by a cD galaxy; see Albert, White, and Morgan in ApJ 211, 309, 1977). ===== IC 4589. Bigourdan found this while he was searching for NGC 6059 (which see). His description is similar to many of the other "nebulae" that he found during his micrometric survey of the NGC: "This object is formed by a star 13.3-13.4 accompanied by a star 13.3 situated at PA = 265deg, d = 1', with perhaps a trace of nebulosity. Approximate measurement." This is a fair description of two stars near Bigourdan's approximate position; the second star to the west has a fainter companion just a bit north that may have led Bigourdan to his belief that there was nebulosity accompanying the stars. I have positions for all of these in the big table. ===== IC 4591, IC 4592, IC 4601, IC 4603, IC 4604, and IC 4605 are all part of the great complex of nebulae around rho Ophiuchi in the general area of Antares. Though discovered visually by Barnard while he was sweeping for comets, the nebulae are too faint to be clearly seen by eye. So, Barnard's descriptions, published first in AN 3001 and a few months later -- with photographs -- in MN, come from his early Lick plates of the area. Interestingly, Stewart also examined a plate of the area, his taken from Harvard's Arequipa Station in Peru, but found only IC 4601 on it. His plate was a one-hour exposure, while Barnard was able to expose for two-plus hours with a faster camera for his discovery plates. Barnard's 6-inch Willard portrait lens also gave a considerably larger field of view, roughly 12 deg by 10 deg (at least as reproduced in Vol. 11 of the Lick Publications). Stewart worked with a field of 6.4 x 6.4 degrees, coincidentally very close to that of the Palomar and Southern (Siding Spring) Sky Surveys. Barnard's descriptions, while very sketchy and qualitative, are adequate to identify the nebulae, and his positions refer to the stars involved in the brighter parts of the nebulosity. Dreyer generally adopted positions for the stars as given in Barnard's papers, so I've followed along using positions from Tycho-2 for the same stars. I've taken mean values when necessary. ===== IC 4592. See IC 4591. ===== IC 4594 = NGC 6075. Javelle got the sign on his NPD offset wrong. Corrected, his position falls within three arcsec of the nucleus of the NGC galaxy. Unfortunately, there is an 18th magnitude galaxy near the incorrect position copied into the IC. This has been occasionally taken as the IC object; it is not. Wolfgang Steinicke was the first to note the identity with NGC 6075, one of Stephan's objects. ===== IC 4596. See IC 4600. ===== IC 4597 may also be NGC 6082, which see. ===== IC 4600 may be the small asterism of three stars which I've noted in the position table; it is close to the nominal position. Or the IC object may be the small, round galaxy 2min, 10sec of time preceding the nominal position. This suggestion comes from ESO-B, and was picked up by Wolfgang Steinicke as well. There is also a linear asterism of three stars north of the nominal position that I've put into the position table. Or I4600 may be a defect on the 4.5-hour Bruce plate. Hopefully the plate still exists so that it can be checked someday. The only other object which Stewart found on this particular plate is IC 4596. That is at its nominal position, and matches Stewart's description very well. ===== IC 4601. The NGC RA is 20 seconds of time too large. I thought at first that this was a problem with Stewart's position having been combined with Barnard's, but Stewart's is quite accurate. Barnard's is only another nine seconds to the east, so Dreyer has made some small additional error. Whatever happened, the position and identification of the nebula is not in doubt. See IC 4591 for more on the vast and wonderful complex of nebulosity around rho Ophiuchi. ===== IC 4602 = NGC 6132. Swift's declination is just 1 degree too far north. Otherwise, his position and description fit the galaxy perfectly. He says, "eeeF, lE, S, F * near f; 2 B sts s nearly point to it; eee dif." His notation "S"[mall] comes from his second list from Lowe Observatory, and did not make it into his big 11th catalogue in AN, so is also missing from the IC. The faint star near following is probably the one at 16 23 46.29, +11 46 03.4 (2000), though there are fainter stars closer to the galaxy. The two bright stars to the south are SAO 102127 and 102128 at V = 8.9 and 8.4, respectively. ===== IC 4603. See IC 4591. ===== IC 4604. See IC 4591. ===== IC 4605. See IC 4591. ===== IC 4606 is lost, at least to a fairly cursory search around its nominal position. William H. Finlay found this with the 7-inch refractor at Cape Town, and gave the RA only to a whole minute of time. His description reads in full, "Circle reading. Follows a faint star 4.5 seconds, and is 0.5 arcmin south." There are no nebulae in this area (near the great rho Oph nebulosity; see IC 4591 for more on that) that match this description. Several minutes west is NGC 6144 at the same declination. If it were not so obvious, and if it had the faint star to the northwest, it would be a candidate for Finlay's object. I wrote that a few months ago. I've just become aware (June 2004) of a thread on the "amastro" web site that makes the point that there is in fact a star to the west of the center of cluster. Its position is 16 27 08.33, -26 01 19.4 (J2000.0, measured by me on the DSS). This puts it about 5.8 seconds west of the cluster, though its declination is virtually the same. Still, if Finlay's numbers are estimates, they may fit the star and cluster well enough. I've added the IC number, with a query, to the cluster's entry in the position table. My thanks to Chris Watson and, especially, David Frew for calling the amastro thread to my attention. ===== IC 4610 is one of a group of three nebulae (IC 4610, 4611, and 4612) found by Javelle on 25 July 1903. It is the only one of the three to not have an error in its position. See IC 4612 for the story. ===== IC 4611 has an incorrect sign in its North Polar Distance offset from its comparison star. When this is corrected, Javelle's position falls within two arcsec of MCG +07-34-112. See IC 4612 for more. ===== IC 4612. A curious case; this is the brightest of three galaxies in a group found on 25 July 1903. The IC position is correct, as is Javelle's reduced position. However, his RA offset carries the wrong sign. This error had no effect on the subsequent history of the object. This has, however, not kept MCG from giving the wrong IC number to the object. IC 4610 is about 2 arcmin preceding, and it is this number that has ended up on the brighter object. This was unfortunately copied into RC3, once again showing the roots of that catalogue in MCG, via PGC. CGCG got the right number on the right galaxy. Another curiosity of the field: IC 4611 has the wrong NPD sign in Javelle's table of offsets -- and the wrong reduced position, too. ===== IC 4613, IC 4614, IC 4615 = NGC 6196, and IC 4616 = NGC 6197. Bigourdan found a group of five "nebulae" here during his several observations beginning in August of 1886 and extending through April of 1897. He was searching for the four previously catalogued objects, NGC 6194, 6196, 6197, and 6199. He managed to "find" NGC 6194, 6196, and 6197, though his entries under those numbers are for stars. He found no trace of NGC 6199, and gave the three galaxies new numbers (B209, B325, and B426, respectively), though later correctly identified B209 with NGC 6194, and found a new galaxy B324 = IC 4614. The entry in the NGC notes for N6196 has further discussion of the NGC objects. When Dreyer assembled IC2, B325 became IC 4615 and B426 became IC 4616, while the other two objects, B324 and B425 became IC 4614 and IC 4613, respectively. As I explain in the notes for NGC 6196, Marth's positions for N6196 and N6197 are off by equal amounts: 38 seconds of time in RA, and 1.3 arcmin in declination. When these offsets are applied to Marth's positions, it is clear that NGC 6196 = IC 4615 and NGC 6197 = IC 4616. While Bigourdan measured micrometric positions for the three brightest galaxies (N6194, N6196, and N6197), he gave the two fainter objects only estimated offsets from the comparison stars. There is nothing in the place of B425 = IC 4613, though for B324 = IC 4614, there is a galaxy (CGCG 196-087) about an arcmin preceding the estimated position. I have had two earlier, both incorrect, ideas about this object, making it first a faint galaxy 6 arcmin south of the position, then a star 18 seconds of time following the IC position. Malcolm has correctly pointed out that Bigourdan's RA offset is to be read as -46 seconds, not -0.46 minutes. This pretty well secures the identification with the CGCG galaxy, which additionally has a star superposed on its northern edge. This would have enhanced the visibility of the object. An earlier identification of mine for IC 4613 as the galaxy at 16 37 16.2, +35 58 45 (J2000) doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of Bigourdan's estimated offsets. There is nothing at all at his position, so this, too, must be another of his "fausse image". In summary, IC 4613 is "not found," IC 4614 is almost certainly a galaxy, IC 4615 is certainly NGC 6196, and IC 4616 is just as certainly NGC 6197. ===== IC 4614. See IC 4613 and NGC 6196. ===== IC 4615 = NGC 6196. See IC 4613 and NGC 6196. ===== IC 4616 = NGC 6197. See IC 4613 and NGC 6196. ===== IC 4620. The IC NPD for 1860 is 1 degree too small; the 1900 NPD is correct, as is Frost's. The IC number ends up on MCG +03-43-004. ===== IC 4622. Stewart calls this "cF, S, i, D". He names a plate of one hour exposure, 3795, from the Bruce telescope at Arequipa as being the source of the object. However, he does not mark the object "susp" as he would if he had seen it on only one plate. So, it's a bit puzzling to find nothing in the area of his position matching his description. Carlson also notes this as "Not found", and I did not find it during scanning for SEGC. This is probably a defect rather than the faint double star Wolfgang suggests. The Harvard plate should be checked, of course. Incidentally, IC 4629 (which see) is also missing; Stewart found it on the same plate. ===== IC 4625 = NGC 6240. The identity is sure; Barnard notes the star near north-following. I suspect a mistake in his computations, though this is one of the nebulae which he did not publish, but sent directly to Dreyer. Unless Barnard's letter still exists, we may never know for sure. ----- Reviewing this while adding Gaia DR2 positions in May 2019, I noticed that this has a double nucleus -- it shows up well in the Pan-STARRS1 images. So, I've split out the separate positions (where they exist) for the two nuclei, calling one "nN" (north nucleus) and the other "sN" (south nucleus). Note, too, that the 10th magnitude star "close nf" seen by Barnard is NOT his famous high-proper-motion star. My comment, which I've rewritten, managed to lead me to believe it was for a few seconds. Hopefully, my new note, quoting Barnard explicitly, will be clearer. ===== IC 4626 is a double star about 7 arcmin southeast of NGC 6240 = IC 4625 (which see). Bigourdan's measured offsets point exactly at the double, and his description is consistent with the many other double stars that appear among his new nebulae. ===== IC 4627. Barnard's position, reported for the first time in the IC, is very good. Curiously, though, the star that he notes 12 arcsec from the galaxy is actually more nearly east rather than south of the galaxy. A slip of the eye or pen, perhaps? ===== IC 4628 is a large diffuse nebula centered about 30 seconds of time following Frost's position (adopted by Dreyer for the 2nd IC). Dreyer also lists Barnard as having observed this, but as with so many other of Barnard's new nebulae in IC2, this one was not published. In any event, Frost's description from an Arequipa Bruce plate is appropriate: "F, L, dif., ext. half a degree in RA and a fourth a degree in dec." I actually make it a little closer to 20 arcmin in Dec, but it's clear that Frost was looking at the same object. Steve Waldee wrote recently about this nebula, asking about Barnard's work on it. We dug the following description by Barnard out of Lick Publications, Vol. 11, 1913, Plate 37: The coarse cluster in 16h 48m, -40[deg].3 does not seem to be in Dreyer's lists. It is a very interesting object and appears to be connected by a scattering chain of stars, with the cluster Dreyer 6231 south of it. In its northern part is the nebula Dreyer *2d Index Catalog* [Barnard's italics] 4628. This was originally discovered on a plate with the Willard lens, but no announcement was made of it. It is a large nebula one half degree in diameter and of irregular form and brightness. A photograph with the 10-inch Bruce telescope at Mount Wilson in 1905 (June 21) shows the irregular group of stars and the nebula very beautifully. There are still fainter portions that extend half a degree to the northeast. The nebulosity, apparently, does not condense about any one of the stars and is probably not actually connected with the cluster. The nebula and cluster is shown clearly in the plate. In the accompanying table, Barnard simply gives the same position that appears in the Harvard list and in the IC. Finally, in his Milky Way Atlas of 1927, Barnard has this to say about IC 4628: A little below the center of the plate is a mixture of nebulosity and stars. It is listed as N.G.C. II [sic] 4628. The nebulosity, about 30 [arcmin] in diameter, is placed in the northeastern part of a group of stars about 1 [degree] in diameter. The extreme diameter of the nebulosity toward the northeast is about 50 [arcmin]. Here, he gives the same position precessed to 1875. Also see NGC 6227 for more about JH's observation of a Milky Way star cloud in the area. ===== IC 4629 is probably a plate defect. Stewart gives a relatively detailed description, "vF, vS, eE at 75 degrees, RA may be [16] 51.0 [1900.0], susp," but there is nothing at either of his positions that matches this. Since the plate is a short-exposure, one-hour plate and Stewart had no other of the area, the most likely hypothesis is a plate defect. Ralph Dowdee, using the telescopes of SLOOH.com, has several images of the area, none of which show anything at the nominal position of IC 4629. Ralph's images did show the dark nebula LDN 122, located at 16 52 25, -16 40.0 about a minute of time preceding the nominal position for I4629. See also IC 4622, another missing object that Stewart found on the same plate. In that case, however, he did not mark the object "susp." Was this an oversight, or did he actually have another plate that overlapped the position for I4622? We need to look at the original plate. ===== IC 4631 is also probably a plate defect. Stewart notes it as "suspected" which means that he saw it on only one plate. Since there is nothing but very faint stars at his position, the plate defect hypothesis is the most likely. But we obviously should check the plate. ===== IC 4632 is probably another of Bigourdan's "fausses images." There is nothing near his single estimated position but very faint stars, only one of which he could have seen (it is in the position table with a question mark). However, it follows his comparison star by about a second, while he places his object 2.7 seconds preceding. So, I'm doubtful that this plays any role in the story. ===== IC 4636 is a star near Bigourdan's single estimated position. The identity is almost certain as he notes "It is followed by a * 12 which is on the same parallel and which follows 5 seconds later." The * 12 is closer to 7 seconds following, but it is close to where Bigourdan places it. Some have taken I4636 to be identical with NGC 6279. Bigourdan, however, used the galaxy as the reference object for I4636, placing his "nova" +2.5 seconds, -2 arcmin 30 arcsec from the galaxy. In addition, the first part of his description reads, "At this position, I suspect an object similar to N6279, but much fainter and considerably more stellar." All of this makes it certain that the two objects are not identical. ===== IC 4643 = NGC 6301. Dreyer credits this to Palisa, though without a specific reference. Steve Gottlieb found the observation in AN 3412 (Vol 143, p. 49, 1897) in a paper communicated by E. Weiss, then director of the Vienna Observatory. The full observation is published, including the offsets from the comparison star, so I've re-reduced the position using modern data for the star. No surprise -- the position in the IC is good, and the brief description "F, * 12 inv" is accurate -- the star is about 0.5 arcmin southwest of the nucleus. The NGC position, from two observations by WH, is also good. WH's description "A vS F * involved in eF nebulosity" is also accurate, though he listed it as a "planetary nebula". Looking at the NGC description "F, stellar", I thought perhaps CGCG 225-050 -- with its very bright bar -- might have been WH's object. But WH's position is almost exactly on the larger, lower-surface- brightness galaxy, and his description of the nebulosity as "eF" is a perfect match. So, the question remains as to why Palisa and Dreyer thought Palisa's observation belonged to a new object. Until someone can see Dreyer's papers to see if he corresponded about this with Palisa, I have no answer. At a guess, this is probably just another NGC object that Dreyer missed while assembling the IC. ===== IC 4646. See IC 4658. ===== IC 4648 is a double star two degrees south of the IC position. When I first went over this, I found that I did not have Bigourdan's Comptes Rendus list where this object was first announced. So I did not know if he was responsible for the two-degree error, or if Dreyer was. In early March 2014, Courtney Seligman wrote to say that he had found an on-line copy of the CR paper, and that that is the source of the erroneous position, not the second IC. In Bigourdan's big publication of his observations, he has the correct positions and estimated offsets for this object, so it is easy to identify at the correct declination. In addition, his description reads "Pretty nebulous object; could be a small cluster in which I can distinguish a double * (13.3 + 13.4; 270 degrees; 12 seconds to 15 seconds)." This description fits the double perfectly. The fainter star is to the west and looks like it itself is a merged double. Finally, this object (along with about a dozen others) ended up with two entries in Bigourdan's list of new nebulae; it is B. 428 and B. 540. I suspect this is a bookkeeping error as Bigourdan has only one observation of the double on 1 June 1897 in his big list. ===== IC 4649 = IC 1252, which see. ===== IC 4650. Steve Gottlieb emailed a note in July 2017 asking about this number. Steve says of the galaxy that usually carries the IC number, "Even in my 24-inch, this was a faint galaxy (V ~15), and I really doubt that it could have been picked up by Bigourdan." Bigourdan says of this (my translation), "An object [of magnitude] 13.4-13.5 whose existence is certain and which could be a mixture of small stars and nebulosity." He saw this on just one night (6 September 1891) and estimated its position with respect to NGC 6338 as +28 seconds and -5 arcminutes 30 arcseconds. As with IC 4649 = IC 1252 (which see), some kind of bookkeeping error led him to include it in two of his lists of new nebulae: It is Big 430 = Big 541. I wondered if this might be a duplicate observation of IC 4649, but Bigourdan saw both objects on that same night in September 1891. His estimated position is somewhat north of the galaxy usually taken as IC 4650, NPM1G +57.0229 = 2MASX J17154740+5718066. This, like IC 1252, is a member of the tight group around NGC 6338 -- but unlike IC 1252, the position is in an empty part of the sky. However, there are about a dozen faint stars -- centered at roughly 17 15 50, +57 17.7 -- scattered around the NPM1G galaxy, covering an area of roughly 3.2 by 1.8 arcminutes. The NPM1G galaxy is in the northern part of this asterism, and there are two fainter galaxies to the south, neither of which would be visible in Bigourdan's 30-cm refractor. Unfortunately, Bigourdan gives us no idea of the size of his object, so I am reluctant to assign the IC number to the asterism as his "novae" are usually much smaller. Steve has suggested that one or the other of the two stars 0.7-0.8 arcminutes north of NPM1G +57.0229 might be the object that Bigourdan picked up. While I think this is unlikely because of the faintness of the stars (both are around V = 16), we still note it as a possibility. For consistency with the few modern catalogues which list it, I will keep the IC number on the NPM1G galaxy, though with a query. This one, lacking a micrometric observation from its discoverer, is still a bit of a mystery. ===== IC 4651. Solon I. Bailey published a list of 263 bright nebulae and clusters in Volume 60 (No. 8), 1908, of the Harvard Annals, describing them as he saw them on the Harvard patrol camera plates. This was the first all-sky catalogue of deep sky objects assembled from a fairly uniform set of photographic plates. Among the objects were 13 clusters not in the NGC or the first IC. Dreyer gave 11 of them entries in the second IC, and several have gone on to become quite well-known (e.g. IC 2602, IC 4665). The two that Dreyer did not include are the Pleiades and the Hyades, regarded by him as too well-known to need NGC or IC numbers. This particular cluster has fainter stars than most of Bailey's other discoveries, so has not become as popular among observers. It is nevertheless a fairly large cluster of 50-75 stars ranging from magnitude 10 or 11 on down. These are scattered over an area of about 9 arcmin by 9 arcmin (Bailey made it 15 arcmin across). I would expect it to show up fairly well in 20-cm and larger telescopes. ===== IC 4652. See IC 4658. ===== IC 4655 is a line of six stars at Stewart's position. It is an obvious asterism, matching his description and position angle, yet ESO-B missed it. Well, we all have our off days; these notes attest to many of my own. ===== IC 4656 has a faint star superposed about 3 arcseconds southwest of the nucleus. It has not been picked up in any of the automated surveys that I've consulted, so the position is based on my own estimate using SkyView, corrected by the average offset from similar positions from the 2MASS PSC for the nucleus and another nearby superposed star. When automated positions come available (perhaps from Gaia or LSST) for the star, I'll adopt one of those. ===== IC 4657 and IC 4659 are presently lost. These are two of Barnard's unpublished nebulae that he sent directly to Dreyer; neither is at their IC positions. Nor are there stars nearby as Barnard claims -- "* 11 np 2 arcmin" I4657, and "* 8 f 21 seconds, 3 arcmin north" of I4659. It's tempting to think that Barnard found these on the same night or on the same photographic plate; they are only about half a degree apart. Unfortunately, they are within a few degrees of the Galactic plane, so they might be two of the many asterisms in the area. The neighboring stars and the relative positions are the only clues we have. Perhaps that will be enough, or perhaps we can dig into Barnard's observing logs again. Neither is seen in Plate 41 of Barnard's collection in Lick Publication, Volume 11, 1913, so I do not think that they were found photographically. Cederblad included both objects in his catalogue of diffuse nebulae, probably because of the low Galactic latitudes. However, he admits in his notes that he has not been able to identify either one. In addition to searching around the nominal positions, I also checked one and ten degrees north and south, and 1 minute of time east and west -- nothing. Perhaps one of the other obvious digit errors might yield the objects. Please look if you have the time and patience, and please let me know if you find them. ===== IC 4658. If this is the big galaxy that I think it is -- ESO 139-G012 -- it suffers from errors in not just its IC RA (1860 only), but in its original RA and Dec as well. I do not believe that this can be the much fainter ESO 139-G010, even though that is within 3-4 arcmin of Frost's nominal position. Though Andris lists the IC number for this galaxy in ESO-B, he put a query on the IC number. Frost found this on a Bruce plate taken at Arequipa. He found only two other nebulae on this plate, IC 4646 and IC 4652, both close to their nominal positions. Both are fairly good-sized galaxies, and IC 4652 has a description that is identical to IC 4658's: "F, plan. magn. 15." Thus, we should look for an object that is similar in appearance to I4652. That object is ESO 139-G012. It is 1.5 minutes following and 20 arcmin south of Frost's nominal position, close enough to "digit errors" to suggest some sort of transcription or procedural error. I've therefore adopted the object as I4658, though with a cautionary colon to flag the identification as uncertain. As a reality check, I calculated the distance of the galaxy from the center of Frost's plate (17 24 17, -57 32.7 for 1950) -- is the galaxy really on the plate? The answer is yes, it is 158 arcmin from the center while the edges of the plate (6.3 x 6.3 degrees) are 189 arcmin from the center. This is comparable to 149 arcmin for I4646 and 130 arcmin for I4652, though perhaps it is farther enough than those two to have led to the position problem. Well. We obviously need to check this on the plate, hopefully still at Harvard. The IC RA? Dreyer made a 1 minute error when he precessed it to 1860; the 1900 IC RA is correct. ===== IC 4659. See IC 4657. ===== IC 4665 was actually found by de Cheseaux in the 1740s, and only rediscovered by Solon Bailey on Harvard patrol camera plates two and a half centuries later. See its entry in the "notngc" files for more. Also see IC 4651. ===== IC 4666 is certainly the star listed in the position table, though Bigourdan's position is only an estimate. Nevertheless, the star is the brightest in the area and is far enough from the nearest other candidates that I have no doubts about the identity. ===== IC 4667. I am not sure about these objects. Bigourdan's position is only estimated, not measured, and his description is similarly unsure: "In the neighborhood of NGC 6459, I suspect several objects of mixed appearance which need a more powerful telescope [to verify]; at this position, I suspect two." While there are several stars nearby, his position falls in a blank spot. I've listed the two brightest stars in the area. There are two other objects nearby, both much fainter, a star and a galaxy. So, there are some question marks in the table. Frankly, I suspect "fausse images". Bigourdan regularly pushed himself and his optics to measure objects found with much larger telescopes than his. The inevitable result was suspicion of fainter objects still. A good many are real, of course, but many others have turned out to be illusory. Another of the objects in the neighborhood is IC 4666 (which see). Even though Bigourdan only estimated its position, too, on the same night, I am pretty sure that it is the star at Bigourdan's position. ===== IC 4668 is a star. It was a bit difficult to track down since Bigourdan mistakenly swapped its comparison star for the comparison star for NGC 6474 (which see for a different story). When the correct star is used, Bigourdan's position is an even 10 arcsec off, suggesting another error. However, I've not checked closely for that one. The position is close enough to identify the star as Bigourdan's object. ===== IC 4670. Though Joseph Lunt's discovery position is 3.5 arcminutes too far south, there is no question about the identity of this planetary. Lunt found it visually with a "24-inch o.g. [objective grating] prism" and placed it "immediately S.f. C.P.D. -21[deg] 6502" and added, "The nebula is 2s.5 pr. a slightly brighter star of the same declination." He estimated the magnitude as 12-13, called the object "stellar", and has it on two plates taken in June and July 1901. ===== IC 4671 does not exist. I suspect it is a plate defect on Stewart's one-hour plate (number 3664). His description is telling: "Looks like sp[iral], edge of plate." The Harvard plate should be checked and compared with the DSS. ===== IC 4675. Described in the IC as "Doubtful, not seen a second time," this indeed does not exist. Bigourdan has only one estimated position for it on 5 August 1891, putting it 6.9 seconds west and 4 arcmin 42 arcsec south of a 10th magnitude star at 18 00 33.2 -09 11 00. The star is pretty well isolated in a field of much fainter stars, so is unmistakeable. But there is nothing at all at Bigourdan's position. His description from that night reads in full, "Trace of nebulosity suspected for an instant; the sky, which was becoming stormy, prevented me from clearly recovering it." On 25 June 1895, he simply notes "Not seen," and goes on to repeat the offsets of his comparison star from BD -9 4639, which he had given in the first observation, to make perfectly clear that there really was nothing there. Nevertheless, he inserted this in his list of "novae" as number 329 where Dreyer picked it up. It must be another of Bigourdan's "fausse images." ===== IC 4677 is a part of the corona of NGC 6543, the bright planetary near the north pole of the ecliptic. It is a complex of relatively bright knots in the planetary's corona, preceding the central star by an arcminute or so. While its position has never been in doubt (Barnard's position and description of it in his private communication to Dreyer is exact, and there is a sketch of it in his Yerkes observations along with several micrometric measurements, all kindly sent to me by Leos Ondra), its character has been questioned, primarily by Vorontsov-Velyaminov. He included it in his first list of interacting galaxies (where it is No. 121), and in the MCG (it is MCG +11-22-017). This is a bit surprising as VV was an early authority on planetary nebulae; his book from the 1930's is now something of a classic on the topic. Still, the object does look something like a distorted late barred spiral on the PSS prints. It is nevertheless clear that the object is not an interacting galaxy. Its radial velocity is the same as N6543 (-70 km/sec), and large scale photographs clearly show filamentary connections between it, the planetary, and the rest of the corona. The best photo that I've seen is that published in AJ 79, 1259, 1974, taken with the Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak. Barnard's measurements put IC 4677 16.526 seconds west and 4.98 seconds north of NGC 6543. These yeild the position that I've credited to Barnard in the big table. It falls between the brighter eastern and somewhat fainter middle lobes of the nebula. ===== IC 4678. This was found on a photographic plate taken by Barnard around the turn of the century, and described in his article in AN 4239. About it, he only says, "There is a small, elongated, bright nebula in the position 1860.0 17h 59m 25s+- -23d 53m+-." The +- signs are important since there is nothing at Barnard's position. However, about 1.5 minutes of time west of that position is a small nebula that matches Barnard's description. As Barnard himself noted, it is clearly just a concentration in the general nebulosity of the area northeast of M 8, but still stands out on blue-sensitive photos enough that it is unmistakably the object that Barnard was discussing. Other IC objects found by him on the same plate also have positions that are estimates, not real measurements. See NGC 6523, N6526, N6533, and I1271 for more discussion of the M 8 area. ===== IC 4681 is the star, immersed in some faint blue nebulosity, that ESO and I have chosen. Barnard says (in AN 4239 = AN 177, 232, 1908) that "There is a conspicuous small nebula or nebulous star in position 1860.0 18h 00m 35s +- -23d 26m +- [this is I4684 which is a double star with brighter nebulosity around it] and another in 1860.0 17h 59m 46s +- -23d 25m +-." This second star has no nebulosity around it on the red DSS images, but the star does appear to be fuzzy in Barnard's photograph of the region published as Plate 52 in the Lick Publications, Vol. 11 -- I can see why he mentioned it. There is a faint sheen of nebulosity around the star -- brightest to the north -- on the DSS1 blue plate. It is nowhere as bright as IC 4684, and is defined mostly by relatively dense absorption patches most noticeable to the north of the star and nebula. Following Barnard's lead, the position I give is for the star. The star that Wolfgang chose is closer to Barnard's nominal position, but is not nearly as bright, and it is superposed on an absorption patch that helps define the nebulosity on the blue plate. ESO also suggests that I4681 might be identical to I4684, but this is not possible as Barnard found the two nebulae on the same plate. However, for a case of confusion from his same paper in AN 4239, see IC 4690. ===== IC 4683 may be nothing more than the rich Milky Way star field in this area. Wolf says only this about it: "The nebula M 8 and the large nebula covering more than 10 square grads [about 8 square degrees] found by me to the south (RA = 18.0h, Dec = -26.4 deg) ..." He has a footnote that the coordinates are for 1855. There is no remarkable nebula in the area. This may also be nothing more than a large plate defect, too. ESO has a curious note about this IC number: "Pos but not descr corresponds to an absorption region of elliptical shape." The position in ESO (18 05 12, -26 16.9) indeed corresponds to an absorption patch. But there is no indication in either the IC or Wolf's original article that there is any absorption associated with the IC object. In any event, I've adopted Wolf's position for the main table. If his original plate still exists, it may be possible to find his object on it. ===== IC 4684 is a double star immersed in nebulosity. See IC 4681 for more. ===== IC 4690 is probably identical with NGC 6589 (which see for a problem of its own). If so, Barnard misidentified the star in his note published in AN 4239. There he says "The two stars BD -19d 4881 and -19d 4946 are closely and densely nebulous. The nebulosity about -19d 4881 is somewhat extended nf and sp." In order to make this match the field he is describing, the star number BD -19d 4881 has to be replaced in the first sentence with BD -19d 4940, and then with -19d 4946 in the second. The nebula around -19d 4946 is N6590 (which see) = N6595 = I4700; it is elongated as Barnard describes, while the nebula around -19d 4940 is nearly circular. That leads to my thought that Barnard's second mention of -19d 4881 is actually a reference to NGC 6590 rather than NGC 6589. This in turn suggests that I4690 is N6589. In any event, there is no nebulosity around -19d 4881; that star is nearly seven minutes of time west of -19d 4946. Barnard's mentioning it is almost certainly a misidentification on his part. ===== IC 4693 is a triple star (the northern star has a faint companion just to the southwest, but I do not think it figured in the discovery of the object). Bigourdan tells us that this was found by a "M. Callandreau", but gives no other details about its discovery. He does note two neighboring stars, though -- they are just where he places them with respect to M. Callandreau's "nova", so the identity is secure. His three micrometric measurements pin it down, too. ===== IC 4695 is a double star with several other nearby stars scattered around it. Even though Stewart marked it "suspected" because he found it on only one plate, his description -- including the other stars nearby -- is clear, and his position is good. ===== IC 4700 = NGC 6590 (which see) = NGC 6595. ===== IC 4703 is the nebulosity associated with M 16. Isaac Roberts picked it up on one of his plates, though it is not in any of the papers that Dreyer gives references to in IC2. M 16 (NGC 6611) itself is called only a cluster in NGC with no mention of nebulosity. But the nebula is bright and easy, so I'm a bit puzzled at its not being mentioned, and also by Roberts claiming it as a "new" nebula. I'd like to see his notes on the object. In the meantime, the identity is clear, even if it may well be superfluous. ===== IC 4706 and IC 4707. These two nebulae are easily seen on any of the survey plates/films/prints, but since Barnard has misidentified the BD stars in the area, their IC positions are wrong. Earlier I wrote, "Barnard also claims that two of the stars are involved in nebulosity, where only one really is (aside from faint, whispy stuff all over the field northwest of M 17)." This is wrong, Barnard was right. The stars are BD -16 4811 and -16 4812. I've adopted the positions of these for the two IC entries though, in reality, there is just a single nebula here. My earlier positions (source "HCe") are for the two major lobes seen on the red plates. There are other identification errors in this particular paper of Barnard's (it appeared in AN 177, 232, 1908 = AN 4239): see e.g. IC 4690, IC 4700, and IC 4715. ===== IC 4707. See IC 4706. ===== IC 4710 is a large, nearby, late-type spiral. The position I give is for the faint, small, eccentric nucleus. Note that other positions in the table are more centered on the outer isophotes of the galaxy, some distance to the northwest. There is a beautiful image of the galaxy in the Carnegie Atlas. ===== IC 4711 is a line of three stars with a position angle of 130 degrees. This agrees closely with Stewart's description which has 125 degrees. There may be a defect involved with the stars on the original plate as his full description reads, "eF, eS, eE at 125 deg; * N crossed by neb. line." ===== IC 4715 = M 24. Barnard's RA as published in AN 4239 is 10 minutes of time too large. This is either a typo, or a simple digit error. His description of the star cloud is accurate, though, as are his notes about the two dark nebulae on the northern edge. Also, his positions for the dark nebulae are correct. And the star cloud is too large to miss -- even Barnard's incorrect position is within its boundaries. The position I estimate is for the entire elongated cloud of stars, approximately 2 deg by 1 deg. M 24 may just be the northern part of this cloud, about a degree across with NGC 6603 near the center (N6603 is often mistakenly equated with M 24, but the NGC object is too faint and too small to match Messier's description; this was first noted by JH who has two observations of NGC 6603). The position I've finally adopted from the DSS2R image is close to Barnard's, but just a few arcminutes further south. Either one will do nicely, of course; this thing is just too big to miss. Dreyer copied Barnard's incorrect position into the second IC, so insured that a casual reader of the catalogues would not notice the identity with M 24. Brent Archinal was apparently the first to catch the error, and it was pointed out to me in March 2001 by Brian Skiff. The star cloud is well-shown in Plates 54 and 55 of Barnard's collection in Lick Publications, Volume 11. I have not included the "wings" extending north and southeast from the southern end of the main cloud in my size estimates. The star cloud is certainly defined for our point of view by intervening dust. It has an extremely irregular outline, so determining a "size" is a matter of interpretation at a given wavelength. ===== IC 4721. There is no problem with the identity of this big, lovely, southern spiral. But it sits in front of a background group, one of which is a large elliptical ("IC 4721A") just a couple of arcmin to the southwest (this has been mistaken at the eyepiece at least once for I4721; see Corwin and Emerson, MNRAS 200, 621, 1982). There is another galaxy behind the western side of the galaxy -- in the optical, the object looks something like a peculiar arm segment of the larger, foreground spiral. But in the IR, the nucleus is actually brighter than that of I4721 itself. An interesting field. ===== IC 4725 = M 25. WH saw this on 18 June 1784, but of course did not list it in his catalogues (of the Messier objects, only M 82 = NGC 3034 is in WH's lists, and that by mistake). It may play a role in the identification of NGC 6647 (which see), another cluster seen by WH in the same sweep. Though found by de Cheseaux in the 1740's (see the "notngc" files for more), this is another of Solon Bailey's clusters recovered on Harvard patrol camera plates. Bailey did not make the identity with M 25 -- that was left to Dreyer. I've given positions for the core of the cluster, and also for a much larger, more extended "halo" which is probably the object recorded by Bailey. ===== IC 4733 is a star, exactly measured by Bigourdan who also noted the wide double star about an arcminute away to the northeast. ===== IC 4762 = B332 is a double star at exactly the position measured by Bigourdan. Until I found that it was a double star, I thought that it might be NGC 6678 (which see) found by Swift, with an identical declination. However, Bigourdan's double star is probably too faint to have been described as "pB" by Swift. At least the identity of IC 4762 is clear. ===== IC 4763 is one of a trio of numbers -- the others are NGC 6677 and NGC 6679, which see -- applied to an interacting quadruplet of galaxies. Here is an excerpt from a letter to Malcolm Thomson (dated 23 October 1992) concerning the objects: In short, I think that only your objects "A" and "B" were seen by Swift, Bigourdan, and Howe. (Kobold also has an observation of NGC 6677 in the Strassburg Annals, Vol. 3, 1909, but his comparison star has a high proper motion which makes the derivation of a precise position more difficult.) I agree with you that A must be NGC 6677, but am convinced that B is NGC 6679 = IC 4763. Here's why: As I always do now for identification problems, I determined accurate positions for all the objects in question. In this case, this meant reducing Bigourdan's micrometric observations, and digging positions out of the Guide Star Catalogue. Here are the results for your three objects (positions are for the equinox 1950.0): Galaxy NGC/IC R.A. Dec Source Notes A NGC 6677: 18 33 39.20 +67 04 09.8 GSC 18 33 38.83 +67 04 11.3 Big 5 Sept 1891 only 18 33 40 +67 04.1 Howe B N6679:=I4763 18 33 33.29 +67 05 47.1 GSC 18 33 33.58 +67 05 44.8 Big 18 33 35 +67 05.7 Howe C --- 18 33 34.36 +67 06 21.8 GSC Notice that I have used Bigourdan's observations only from the night of 5 Sept 1891 for NGC 6677. His observations on 25 June 1897 refer to the star south-following the galaxy. I also suspect that his comparison star (BD +66 1115 = GSC 4227-00549) has a relatively large proper motion as there is a systematic offset of +0.24 sec and -7.8 arcsec between his positions and the GSC positions for all the objects for which he used this star as a comparison. I've corrected his positions in the table above for these offsets. The excellent agreement between Bigourdan's, Howe's, and the GSC positions convinces me that the two micrometric observations from each of the early observers do indeed refer to your objects A and B. Furthermore, their descriptions also make sense -- and agree with Swift's -- if we note one additional fact: your object B is in fact a close double galaxy. Object C is more than 30 arcsec north of B, which puts it much too far away to be part of the object that Howe measured as NGC 6679: "This is a nebulous D * of mags 12.5, distance 5," [position] angle 60 deg." Bigourdan's description of it as a double star, one that he could not resolve at 344X, also points to the close pair as the actual NGC 6679 -- and adds support to the evidence from his measured position that the pair is equal to B333 = IC 4763 (it is, of course, clear that Bigourdan himself realized this). All of this, combined with Swift's own descriptions (in his papers 3 and 9) pin down the identifications, though with some doubt remaining -- thus, the colons on the NGC identifications. ===== IC 4768 is two apparent clusters found by Bigourdan. He makes the entire grouping 30 arcmin in Dec by 15 arcmin in RA, with centers about 15 arcmin apart and oriented southwest-northeast. He notes the brightest stars as having magnitudes of 9.5 to 10, with the bulk of the stars in both clusters being "faint or very faint." Finally, he labels the southwestern cluster "I" and the northeastern "II". I've adopted this notation for the position tables, where I give estimated positions from the DSS after having first located the clusters on the POSS1 prints. ===== IC 4784. Andris Lauberts found that this object has a ten arcminute error in its declination given by Stewart, and copied faithfully into the IC by Dreyer. The description and RA are correct. The galaxy has a companion to the southeast, but there is a brighter star superposed on the northeastern side of this companion. This probably wiped out the galaxy on the 4.5-hour Harvard plate. ===== IC 4791 is just where Burnham measured it, but Dreyer has the 6th magnitude comparison star following rather than preceding. ===== IC 4802 is a part of NGC 6717. Bigourdan found and measured it on the same night that he measured NGC 6717. His position is accurate and agrees to within a few arcsec of the GSC position. This pins the object as a clump of stars about 15 arcsec northeast of the center of NGC 6717. It is pretty easily seen on the ESO IIIa-F film, and is even more clear in the Digitized Sky Survey image of the cluster. Some have suggested that IC 4802 is identical to NGC 6717. However, the fact that Bigourdan used N6717 as his comparison "star" for I4802, nails the coffin lid tightly shut on that hypothesis. Similarly, ESO's identification of I4802 with a star 2.0 arcmin northeast N6717 is also wrong. ===== IC 4803 is the western of a triple interacting system. ESO put the IC number on all three objects, but it actually applies only to the western galaxy. ===== IC 4812 is a large, faint nebulosity southwest of the brighter trio NGC 6726, 6727, and 6729, but still associated with the NGC objects. I've taken Stewart's "star" (it is actually double) as its center. He found this, and the association with the NGC objects, on a 5-hour plate, one of the longer exposures made at Arequipa. ===== IC 4816 is Nova Sgr 1898 = V1059 Sgr. Wendell gives a micrometrically- measured position Harvard Circular 42 (1899), but that is only good enough to get us into the area of the progenitor star. Duerbeck, in his catalogue of classical novae of 1987, has a more precise -- and presumeably more accurate -- position that pinpoints the eastern of a faint double star as the cataclysmic variable. More recent papers (see e.g. Thorstensen, Peters, and Skinner, PASP 122, 1285, 2010) give positions that also identify the eastern object as the variable, and provide spectra and photometry that support the identification. So, it is likely that the western star is not related to the nova. I've changed the table to reflect this, and have called the western object a "nearby star" rather than a part of the IC object as I had noted it earlier. Note also that even though both GSC3 and UB10 classify both stars as "non-stellar", this is likely due to the proximity of the two objects. ----- Gaia has finally given us very accurate positions for both stars, so those are the ones that I have currently selected as best representing the nova and the star to the west. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to work out if this star is in the spatial neighborhood of the nova ... ===== IC 4824. Stewart calls this simply "eF, eS, D neb". His position, given as usual to a minute of arc, is west of a large, faint irregular galaxy that may actually be an interacting pair. I suspect, however, that it is simply a single, peculiar, late-type irregular. Nevertheless, I've given two positions for it, as well as a position for the star just 0.2 arcminutes west of the eastern arm (if it is indeed an "arm"). This will make an interesting object on which to do a velocity field study. The second galaxy in the field is IC 4828. It is only an optical companion, however, with a velocity of +3843 km/s, while IC 4824 has a velocity of +937 km/s. ===== IC 4828. See IC 4824. Note also that I misidentified this as "IC 4833" in the first SGC note for IC 4824. I got it right for the second note. ===== IC 4833. See IC 4828. ===== IC 4850 = Nova Aql 1899 = V606 Aql. Dreyer included this nova because Fleming and Pickering noted the emission lines of a gaseous nebula in its spectrum. The Harvard Circular (No. 56) gives the position to only an arcminute, but Pickering published a more precise -- and presumeably more accurate -- position in his earlier note in ApJ 12, 52, 1900. That position lands close to a small triangle of three stars with a fourth a few arcseconds to the southwest. The finding chart given by Duerbeck in his 1987 catalogue and atlas of Galactic novae labels three stars as candidates; Duerbeck notes "The exnova is a blend of three stars ..." (note that his position for star "3" actually applies to the fourth star that I noted just above). My initial search of the literature turned up nothing more definitive in the way of an identification. However, Ringwald, Naylor, and Mukai (MNRAS 281, 192, 1996) have a note that a spectrum of star 2 shows it to be a typical G7-K4 star, making it unlikely to be the nova. So, I cannot give a positive identification for this IC object at the moment (October 2015). However, it is possibly either of stars "1" or "3"; positions for all four of these are given in the table. ----- Digging further into the literature early in September 2016, I was able to find a reference in Downes, Webbink, and Shara (PASP 109, 345, 1997) to a 1900 measurement of IC 4850 by Bigourdan (in CR 131, 239, 1900). At the time, in July of 1900, Bigourdan estimated the magnitude of the nova to be 12 to 12.5, and wrote that it showed no trace of enveloping nebulosity. He has two measurements of the nova on 18 and 20 July, both with respect to BD -0 3710. In 1900, there was no accurate position known for this BD star, but the nearby BD -0 3705 did have a good position in the "Copenhagen and Borgen" catalogue. So, Bigourdan also has measured an offset from that star to his direct comparison star. This allowed him to give an accurate position for the nova. Now we have several accurate positions available for BD -0 3710 itself. I've used that in URAT1 with the accompanying proper motions calculated using the 2MASS PSC position. Bigourdan's two-step position for the nova precessed directly from his note, is just 2.6 arcseconds off the position calculated using the modern data. Both positions (or a mean value if you prefer) strongly suggest that "star 3" in the position table is the nova. Correcting my own position estimate with SkyView on the DSS2 blue plate for that star with respect to stars 1, 2, and 4 (by +0.02 seconds and -0.6 arcseconds), Bigourdan's position is just 1.6 arcseconds from the SkyView position. Spectroscopic confirmation would be good to have. It's also possible, of course, that the actual nova is below the plate limit of the DSS2 images. The red plate seems to suggest, too, that there is another even fainter star just northeast of star 3. Could this be the nova? Gaia DR1 astrometry has resolved these two sources, so I've called the fainter of them "I4850 star 5". ----- Brian Skiff has found a recent paper by Tappert et al. (MNRAS, 462, 1371, 2016; the preprint is available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.00527) on recovery of old novae, including V606 Aql. They have used the 8-m Antu telescope at Cerro Paranal for photometry, and the Gemini-South 8-m telescope at Cerro Panchon for spectroscopy to show that "star 3" is indeed the post-nova, and they publish a finding chart as well. The star's color indices (B-V = 0.40, U-B = -0.28, V-R = 0.44) are typical of a moderately reddened post-nova, and the spectrum shows emission lines of hydrogen and helium, also typical of post-novae. The V magnitude is 20.41 +- 0.03. So, IC 4850 is finally unabiguously identified. I have updated the position table with positions from Gaia DR2 to reflect this. ===== IC 4854 = IC 4855, IC 4857 = IC 4858, and IC 4871 = IC 4872. These three galaxies were all found by Stewart on two overlapping plates, numbers 5556 (a one-hour exposure) and 5656 (3h 15m). In each case, the positions are only 0.1 minute of time or 1 arcmin different, and the descriptions are accordant. And -- most importantly -- there is only one galaxy at each position that Stewart could have picked up (the edgewise companion to I4857 is too faint to have registered on these early Harvard plates). ===== IC 4857 = IC 4858. See IC 4854 = IC 4855. ===== IC 4863 is a double star about 50 seconds of time west of Swift's original position. The position in the IC is from Howe (MNRAS 58, 515, 1898) who found a much fainter double about 20 seconds west of Swift's position. We can be reasonably sure about the identifications as Swift's description and note (in MNRAS 57, 628, 1897 and PASP 9, 186, 1897) are quite effusive: "B, eS, lE, stellar; looks like a close D * both nebulous." His appended note, in full, reads "This is also a singular object. I have never seen but one resembling it, and that was on the same night, which I think is N.G.C. 6861. It resembles a close, bright, double star, each component having a small, bright, round, star-like, nebulous disk. A power of 200 failed to divide it." Also, there may be some fainter stars near the double. These might enhance a nebulous appearance of the brighter two on nights of less than perfect seeing. Swift, too, was scanning within 20 degrees of his southern horizon, which would not help to clarify his view of the object. Howe's double is composed of two 15th magnitude stars having a position angle of about 100 degrees. Though he does not mention the magnitude, he does give the position angle, and his note about the object being 20 seconds preceding Swift's position clearly identifies it. The object is much too faint for Swift to have called it "B". ===== IC 4865 is a double star just where Innes found it. He calls it "A faint nebula joined to, but np, a 9.5 mag star. There is perhaps a stellar nucleus." This is indeed how it might appear in a 7-inch refractor on a night of less than perfect seeing. ESO's note about this object is curiously worded "Concerns position? of '* 9.5 att sf'", but indicates that its entry for I4685 is actually the single star, not the double. ===== IC 4867 is probably also = IC 1301, which see. ===== IC 4868 = WDS J19336-4554AB is a close (3.9 arcsec in 1999) double star. Innes identifies it clearly as CPD -46 9730, and describes it as "... an even patch of light 3 arcsec by 2 arcsec." The only things distinguishing it from a single star on the southern survey plates are a very slightly elongated image and a second faint set of diffraction spikes. There are two fainter stars about 10 arcsec away, the brighter to the northwest, the fainter to the west-northwest; scattered light from these might have added somewhat to Innes's impression of nebulosity. I've adopted UCAC positions for the conglomeration; note that the Tycho-2 position for the brightest star is very slightly different, though still within the combined measurement errors. ===== IC 4870 is apparently a patchy double interacting system with faint jets and streamers. The positions I adopt are for the two brightest stellar knots -- though I wonder if they are actually superposed stars. There is a hint on the red and infrared DSS2 images of spiral structure, especially around the eastern knot, but a higher-resolution image is clearly needed to be sure. Based on the red image, I've adopted the position of the brighter western knot -- perhaps the nucleus? -- as that for the system, whatever it is. ===== IC 4871 = IC 4872. See IC 4854 = IC 4855. ===== IC 4889 = IC 4891. Stewart found IC 4891 first on a one-hour plate from Arequipa -- but he made a 10 arcmin error in the declination. Frost found it again (with its bright companion, IC 4888) on another Arequipa plate, this one of 3h 45m exposure. He recorded the position correctly. Since there is nothing at Stewart's position, and since his description ("cB, S, R, bM") fits what he would have seen on a "short-exposure" plate, and since his declination is just a digit error -- the identity is secure. ===== IC 4895 = NGC 6822, which also see. Dreyer condenses Wolf's description to "group of nebulae, 25 arcmin in diameter." Wolf notes that "NGC 6822" and "IC 1308" are on the northern edge of his group, so he and Dreyer apparently took Barnard's position to be for one of the HII regions (like IC 1308) on the northern side of the galaxy. This explains the entry in IC2, but is at odds with the NGC description "vF, L, E, dif" (see the note under NGC 6822 for more on this). The main difference in the observations, of course, is that Barnard discovered the galaxy visually, while Wolf recorded it on one of his early Heidelberg plates. ----- Herbert Howe also apparently picked up just one of the two HII regions. His short note in MNRAS 60, 130, 1899 reads in full "On two nights I called this 'vS,' while Barnard, who discovered it with a 6 inch refractor, called it 'vL.' This is the source of Dreyer's IC2 note for NGC 6822. ===== IC 4898 is lost. Swift describes it as "eeeF, eeS, eee dif sev F sts near". Close to Swift's position is a very faint triple star and -- even closer -- an even fainter double star. Given Swift's descriptions of the other nebulae that he found during 1897 and 1898 (12th and 13th magnitude galaxies appear as "eeF" in his lists), these stars (at 16th and 17th magnitudes) are too faint to be his nebula. It's just possible that Swift's object is ESO 398-G027. It is the brightest galaxy in an area of over two degrees in any direction from his position. The galaxy is 3.0 minutes of time and 12.5 arcmin off Swift's place, and its magnitude is around B = 15 (unfortunately, it is on one of the few uncalibrated plates in the ESO-LV list, so has no magnitude there). This all makes it unlikely that this is Swift's object, but I've put it in the table with question marks, anyway. ===== IC 4922 is most likely a plate defect. Stewart recorded it on a one-hour Bruce plate, so it would had have to have been fairly bright to show up there. He described it as "vF, vS, R, susp", the "susp[ected]" meaning that he found it on only that one plate. There is a galaxy cluster a few arcmin south of his position, but the brightest objects in it are around 17th magnitude, too faint to have been picked up on a "short" exposure plate. ===== IC 4924 is most likely a defect, too. Wolfgang has chosen ESO 339-G015, about 2.5 arcmin northeast of Stewart's position, but I think it is too small (0.5 x 0.35 arcminute) and faint (B_t = 16.6) to appear on Stewart's plate 3701 (a one-hour exposure). The galaxy also has too high a surface brightness to match his description "neb. like and hazy, but poss. defect, susp." Dreyer shortened this to simply "dif (?defect)". We, of course, need to examine the Bruce plate to be sure. Curiously, this IC number does not appear in ESO-B or in ESO-LV. It is one of the few that Andris missed. ===== IC 4930 is, like I4922 (which see), probably a plate defect. This one, however, was described by Stewart as "cB, S, vE at 45 deg, susp", so it would have been a fairly prominent galaxy if it existed. As with I4922, the plate was one of the one-hour Bruce plates taken at Arequipa. ===== IC 4940 is also likely to be a plate defect. Seen by Stewart on the same Bruce plate as IC 4922 (which see), his description reads "F, S, E at 100deg". There is nothing like that within 10 arcmin of his position. While working on SGC, I noted in my copy of IC2 that this might be four stars. However, the only four stars that I see on DSS that might have caught my eye twenty years ago are 3.5 arcmin south of the nominal position, and nearly form a square. So, they do not match Stewart's position angle, and are certainly not his object. ===== IC 4943. See IC 4949 = NGC 6861. ===== IC 4945 is also NGC 6876A, which see. ===== IC 4946 is probably identical with Shapley-Ames's "New 5", ESO 285-G007. Swift's declination and description fit pretty well: "eF, S, R, 3 or 4 sts f, form with the neb, a circle; sp of 2"; the stars are there. (The "nf of 2" is IC 4948, which I'll write about in the next couple of paragraphs.) Swift's position is 20 02 30, -44 10.9 (for 1950); there are no nebulae near that position that Swift could have seen. He dates his discovery to 11 Sept 1897, from his last year of observing at Mt. Lowe in Southern California. The position of the galaxy is 20 20 31.6, -44 09 28 (1950). This leads to the major problem: Swift's RA is a full 18 minutes of time off. However, the presence of the other object which Swift noted gives us a chance to test the hypothesis. There is indeed another galaxy in the relative position given by Swift's observations, NGC 6902. If I4946 is indeed New 5, then I4948 is identical to N6902. Here is what Swift has to say about I4948: "vF, vS, R, bet a wide D * f and a * np; nf of 2". His position is 20 02 59, -43 50.9 (1950); that for N6902 is 20 21 02.2, -43 48 57. Again, the RA is 18 minutes out. Swift gives the discovery date as 17 Sept 1897, a week later than for I4946. How could he make the same unlikely 18 minute error on two different nights? I wonder if it is possible that he got his date wrong for I4948. He has no other objects recorded on 17 Sept, but there are two others on 11 Sept 1897, I4998 (which see), and I5018 (but these may be identical -- more confusion!). If "17" is a transcription error for "11", then Swift's observations make more sense. It's possible, however, that, on the 17th, he zeroed his setting circles on the galaxy that he found on the 11th. In this case, his relative position would be good (as it is), but his absolute position would be off once again by the same amount. Also, Swift's description of the star field around I4948 is not a good match to the sky. It is, in fact, a better match to the stars around I4946, particularly the "wide D * f" (these two are the brightest of the circle of stars he notes for I4946). This leads me to suggest that I4948 may possibly be a duplicate observation of I4946, this time with a large Dec error as well as an even larger RA error. This isn't very likely at all, of course, but given the problems here, even this may be possible. Finally, adding to the mess is one of Delisle Stewart's nebulae. He did not number it, but gave the discovery credit to Swift. Dreyer followed Stewart's lead, and included both observers in IC2 for I4948. Stewart's RA is the same as Swift's, but his declination is 5.3 arcmin north (Dreyer adopted Stewart's Dec). His description reads "F, S, R, bM" from a one-hour Bruce plate (number 3701). There are only stars in Stewart's position -- but, interestingly, a wide double star follows it by an arcminute or so. If this were the only observation of the nebula, I'd say that Stewart has another plate defect (see I4922, I4924, and I4940, the only other objects that Stewart found on plate 3701; all are probably defects). Also, he does not mention the double star, and I at first took it to be his object. In fact, the double could well be his object, but we will need to examine the plate to know for sure. At the moment, though, it looks like Stewart's I4948 is indeed another defect or perhaps the double star. So, that's the evidence. I'm leaning toward the 18 minute of time error for both objects, but there are enough pieces of contradictory evidence that I can't be sure about either one. In the end, I've marked the I4946 identification with colons, and that for I4948 with question marks. That about sums it up. ===== IC 4948 may be = to NGC 6902. See IC 4946 for the story. ===== IC 4949 = NGC 6861. IC 4949 was the "following of 2" nebulae that Swift found on the night of 8 July 1897. Curiously, he published the first, IC 4943, in his second list nebulae that he found at Lowe Observatory, but published this one in his fourth list. Both finally appeared together in his big eleventh "catalogue" in AN 3517. The equality with the NGC object is assured by the fact that there are no other galaxies nearby that fit Swift's position and description as well. He called his nebula "B, vS, C [sic] E, stellar, f of 2". Not only is this the only galaxy in the area that he might have seen as "bright", but his position is just four arcmin north of the NGC object (JH got its position correct). Also, his relative position for this object with respect to IC 4943 is pretty good -- Swift has picked out the two brightest galaxies in the area. As far as I know, de Vaucouleurs was the first to suggest the identity of the two numbers in his 1956 Reynolds Survey of the southern Shapley-Ames galaxies. ===== IC 4959 may just possibly be IC 4961, but is more likely a defect. Stewart found the object on a one-hour Bruce plate (number 3649), and simply called it a "Hazy star." There is nothing at his position. IC 4961 (coincidentally found on a later Bruce plate, but a 4-hour exposure, by Frost; his position and description is accurate) is about 4.5 arcmin away from Stewart's position for I4959. This makes it unlikely to be I4959, and the galaxy is a fairly low surface brightness, nearly edge-on spiral that doesn't much resemble a "hazy star" on a short-exposure plate. Nevertheless, it is worth a mention here and an entry in the position table -- with a quesiton mark. ===== IC 4961. See IC 4959. ===== IC 4966 is probably the linear triple star about an arcminute south of Stewart's nominal position. Stewart's description "F, vS, E at 40 deg" matches the asterism. Andris Lauberts, in ESO-B, and Wolfgang Steinicke in the first edition of his IC list, select a galaxy (ESO 186-G014) one minute of time east, and 6.2 arcminutes north as I4966. I think this is unlikely because the position angle is different, and the declination is not a digit error. Also, the galaxy is much fainter than those that Stewart normally calls "F" on the one-hour exposure plates that he examined. ===== IC 4974. Stewart notes this as "2 neb., eF, eS, R, bM, * sp 1 arcmin". Dreyer omitted the "2 neb." from his description, so some cataloguers have put the number on the brighter, northern galaxy of the pair. But it's clear that Stewart saw both, so I've put the number on both. And there is a star about an arcminute southwest of the pair. ===== IC 4977. Earlier, I had written about this object [This] is the last of seven objects found by Bigourdan for which he gives no details in his tables of differential measures (see IC 532 for more). There is a wide double star and an equally wide triple about an arcminute northwest of his position as listed in his Appendix VII, but there are no nebulous objects nearby. (In SGC, I note "Only a few stars in pos of I4977."). However, Bigourdan does have an interesting note: "Taken for a comet." His "Initial designation" column -- where he notes the GC and NGC numbers of the nebulae he was observing when he found the "nova" -- has a comet symbol followed by "Giac." apparently an abbreviation for Giacobini. Bigourdan's description, taken from the NGC, "Stellar, close to * 13," suggests that the object is one of the stars (or multiple stars) in the area. We still need to do a detailed search to recover data for the comet on the night of observation, however. IC 2120 (which see), also found by Bigourdan, is in fact a comet, so that kind of mistake does happen in his lists. ----- In August 2016, I ran through the NGC and IC objects that I had flagged as possible comets. This one was the only "hit" with Bigourdan's observed position on 21 June 1898. The comet was C/1898 M1 Giacobini, in line with Bigourdan's notes quoted above. Interestingly, this comet was very close to Bigourdan's position at about 17:45 UT on 21 June 1898 (ephemeris calculated by JPL's HORIZONS system). I think it's likely that Bigourdan actually did observe the comet, but somehow included it in his list of nebulae, just as he did IC 2120 (which see). Searching through Bigourdan's tables again, I found the object in his Appendix VIII where it is called "4977'" = "Big. 435". Bigourdan has four measures of the object which place it +15.17 +- 0.32 seconds of time and -13.15 +- 4.1 arcseconds from a star "An. 11.5" at "20 05 45, -21 55 13". This star is in turn "-1m 39s" in RA, and "-10'.5" in Dec from BD -21 5647. We now identify Bigourdan's comparison star as TYC 6327-0620-1. It has a good position and the proper motion, though high (+70.0+-3.4 mas/yr in RA, +19.2+-3.3 mas/yr in Dec) is well-known. So, the position of Bigourdan's object will be dependent almost entirely on his measurement. His full "Descriptions and Remarks" read (my translation), "The measured object, with a stellar aspect, is very near a star 13.2. It was taken at first to be the comet 1898 V (Giacobini). The position of the telescope is doubtful." I am not at all sure what he means by that last sentence, but it is moderately alarming. Nevertheless, if he has identified his stars correctly, his position becomes 20 11 52.5, -21 37 34 for J2000. This compares with a predicted position of the comet (from JPL's HORIZONS ephemeris calculator) of 20 11 53.4, -21 38 54 at UT = 17:45 on 21 June. However, Bigourdan was probably observing sometime around midnight (he does not give observation times, just hour angles, -2.1 in this case. Given that and the object's RA, its possible to work out the local time, "around midnight"), the comet would have been closer to 20 08 34.0, -21 43 17, 3/4 degree away from his field. So, while he was perhaps searching for the comet, I think it more likely that the star very close to his position is the object he saw. Unfortunately, he does not tell us which direction the nearby 13.2 magnitude star is located, but there is such a star at PA 295 degrees, distance 0.5 arcminutes. I'm therefore going to take this star as the likely IC 4977. ===== IC 4982. I've taken the IC object as both galaxies in this interacting pair. This may not be correct -- the brighter, northern galaxy may be Stewart's intended object. Nevertheless, the two are close enough -- separated by just 0.3 arcminutes that they may well have appeared as a single object on the early Bruce plate from Arequipa. We should look at that plate to be sure about the identification. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you may take just the northern galaxy as the IC object. ===== IC 4988. Earlier, I wrote about this, "IC 4988 may be the faint triple star at Stewart's position, but I don't think so. The triple is probably too faint to have shown up on even a four-hour Bruce plate, and Stewart labels it "susp" besides (he found it on only one plate). His description "Hazy patch, may only be stars" doesn't really fit the asterism, either -- it's probably too small to be "hazy". We clearly need to check the original plate." Looking at the object again in early November 2015, I'm still unsure that the triple is Stewart's object, but I'm going to change the question marks in the position table to colons. The coincidence of positions is excellent, and Stewart's description is sparce enough to cover the triple if it does in fact appear on his plate. And we still need to see that plate. ===== IC 4991 comes from Lewis Swift's last year of observing; he found it on 23 September 1897. There is nothing at his position. The nearest galaxy that he might have seen and described as he did ("vF, cS, R, no bright * nr") is ESO 340-G011, a 12th magnitude galaxy, the brightest member of a small group. It is identified as IC 4991 with no qualifications (aside from a note "IC position off 0.6 min, 33'") in the ESO-B Atlas. However, HD 192815 (V = 8.3) is less than 10 arcminutes north, well within Swift's large 33-arcminute field. Even closer to the west-northwest is CD -41 13952 with V = 9.5. I suspect that if the galaxy were Swift's, he would have mentioned both stars; they would certainly qualify as "bright" as seen through a 16-inch refractor. As ESO notes, Swift's position is also well off the ESO galaxy. If it were not for the stars near the galaxy, I would have pointed out that Swift's positions from his final observing season are almost invariably bad, and that this one is no different: 37 seconds in RA and 31.9 arcmin in Dec. The Dec in particular is near enough to a digit error of half a degree that I'd be willing to forgive it if that were the only problem. The RA is similarly not much of a problem on its own. Combined with the Dec, however, and the nearby bright stars, I am now very skeptical of the identification. Swift's published data for the object, by the way, are consistent from list to list among his four papers including this object. So, we can't easily invoke a typo. Still to be checked, of course, are the coarser digit errors (1 hour in RA, 10 degrees in Dec, and so on). Finally, Malcolm Thomson and Courtney Seligman point out that the galaxy is a pretty bright one. (Indeed, we might ask why didn't JH pick it up from CGH?) This being the case, why did Swift describe it as "vF"? The answer is in the declination, I think. At -41 degrees, the galaxy would be only 15 degrees above Swift's southern horizon. Even in 1897, the air over Los Angeles would not be pristine, so the galaxy would suffer a bit (perhaps considerably more than that!) of extinction. All in all, then, the identification of Swift's object with ESO 340-G011 is fraught with difficulty. Malcolm noted the problems and concluded "Not found." I'm very tempted to agree with him, but list the ESO galaxy -- with a question mark -- as a possible candidate. ===== IC 4996 is an apparent cluster found by F. A. Bellamy on a 13-inch Oxford astrograph plate. His article is devoted to the measurement of positions and magnitudes of 103 stars in an area of about 15 arcmin across more or less centered on the cluster. Unfortunately, Bellamy does not explicitely give a position for the cluster, and that given by Dreyer in IC2 is about 25 arcmin off in declination. Searching around the correct position, I found a clump of faint stars arrayed around a bright double or triple star a few arcmin north. This looks like only a random field clump to me -- the area is littered with dust patches and faint traces of nebulosity. Nevertheless, I've included the clump in the position table as the "core" of Bellamy's object. If some of the bright stars that he gives in his table really do form a cluster, then the entire thing is about 17 arcmin across. Those interested in seeing just what stars Bellamy measured will find his article in MN 64, 662, 1904. It's also interesting to note -- as Wolfgang Steinicke first did in 2014 -- that WH saw this cluster, though did not include it in his catalogues. For the story behind that, see the discussion in the "notngc" files. I will say here, though, that the triple star I noticed near the center of Bellamy's cluster was mentioned explicitly by WH. ===== IC 4998 is perhaps a duplicate observation of IC 5018. The listed observation dates and descriptions are identical, and the declinations are just an arcminute different. Finally, there is only a single galaxy in the area that Swift could have seen. But -- and it's a big BUT, too -- there is nothing in either of Swift's positions, the differences with the galaxy are not even digits (but many of Swift's errors are not), and both RA and Dec are off for both observations. Furthermore, he claims to have found the objects on the same night, 11 September 1897 (see IC 4946 for more confusing observations on this night). Finally, his description of the surrounding star field does not fit the galaxy very well. That description for both objects reads "eF, pS, R, bet 2 8 1/2 mag sts nf and sp." There is a star southwest of the galaxy, but it is 13.3 arcmin away and its magnitude is 9.6. So, it would have been close to the edge of Swift's 33 arcmin field (if the galaxy was centered), and though it is the brightest star in the field, it is not as bright as Swift estimated. However, there is no star to the northeast. There is one of magnitude 9.8 almost directly north -- and a little west -- 13.8 arcmin away. The brightest star to the east is 7.9 arcmin almost directly east -- and a little south -- and magnitude 10.1. All in all, I'm skeptical about this being Swift's galaxy -- if he is indeed giving us observations of only one object. Perhaps there are larger errors here -- one degree, or ten degrees, or one hour. All of these possibilities remain to be investigated. ----- In March 2017, Gary Kronk wrote with a another suggested identification. Here is what he had to say I set one of my planetarium programs to only show deep sky objects and all stars of magnitude 9 and brighter. I then expanded the field centered on [L12-N17] to 15[deg] by 8.5[deg] and began looking for objects that were between two 8 1/2m stars north following and south preceding. I found a few objects with bright stars in the appropriate locations, but most had problems. Some cases had one of the stars much brighter than the other, while other cases had more than one galaxy in the field of almost equal magnitude. After I had eliminated all of the unlikely candidates, I had one galaxy left, PGC 64706. ... This object has an 8.0-magnitude star north-following and an 8.6-magnitude star south-preceding that would both have been in the field of view with the galaxy. The object's magnitude is 14.6 and the dimensions are 46" x 20". I thought it interesting that the right ascension is between Swift's two measurements. Perhaps the biggest problem is its location 1[deg] 23[min] south of Swift's two averaged declinations. Aside from the 1.4 deg error in the declination, this galaxy is an appropriate choice. It's RA is about halfway between Swift's two estimates -- assuming, of course, that he found the same galaxy in both his observations -- and it is of an appropriate magnitude for Swift's optics. I've still listed it with colons, but this is now our prime candidate for Swift's object. ===== IC 5000 = NGC 6901. Since Marth's position for N6901 (which see) is off, Bigourdan did not find it at the NGC place. Near that place, however, he did find a nebula that he entered as B335 in his list of novae. Dreyer listed this as IC 5000 in the second IC. In fact, there is only one galaxy in the area, and Marth's and Bigourdan's descriptions make it clear that they both saw this same galaxy. My supposition in RC2 that this object is also = IC 1316 is incorrect; Bigourdan "saw" both IC 1316 (which see) and IC 5000 on the same nights. He also measured a star which he took to be N6901 (which see) on those same nights. ===== IC 5003 = IC 5029 = IC 5039 = IC 5046 and IC 5007 = IC 5030 = IC 5041 = IC 5047 are a pair of galaxies found four times by Lewis Swift in the summer of 1897. The first galaxy is positively identified by his descriptions of the nearby star field, while the second is also matched to stars on at least one night and by his relative position from the first (with a 10 arcmin error in the declination in the case of IC 5030) on three others. The RA's are off by various amounts up to 18 minutes of time. Here are the messy details. On 9 June, Swift found two nebulae (IC 5046 and IC 5047) in the area, and noted three stars nearby. The stars near IC 5046 are described, "eeF * and vF * near sf, point to it." For IC 5047, "8 mag * 31 arcmin n." All three stars are just where Swift puts them, so the identities are secure. Swift's positions are about 1.5 minutes of time too large, and 3.5 arcmin too far south. These two appeared in Swift's 11th list. Swift again swept the area on 26 July. This time, he noted just the accompanying stars near IC 5030, "F * with dist. com. nr sf, point to it." This, too, is an exact description, but his positions are over 3 minutes of time too small, and his declination for IC 5029 10 arcmin too far south. Swift published these in his 12th list. Back to his 11th list, Swift has three nebulae found on 29 August. He notes for the first of the three that "2 F sts near nf point to it." His description of the second nebula includes the note, "Near p * of sev curved." He mentions no stars near the third nebula. Herbert Howe has a long note about these three in his paper in MN 60, 29, 1900. Here, he states that he has found only two nebulae in the area, and he speculates that -- because Swift's descriptions of the first two apply equally well to the first of his (Howe's) nebulae -- Swift's first and second objects are probably the same. Howe's description of the field is exact, so perhaps Swift got the date wrong on one object, or he made some other error, perhaps the result of a lapse in memory. Finally, on 8 September 1897, Swift again recorded two nebulae (I5003 and I5007). These appear as the 18th and 19th of his 12th list, and Swift has the field described as follows: I5003, "2 sts near sf point to it; sp of 2" and I5007, "bet 2 groups of B sts sf and np; nf of 2." Again, these are accurate descriptions. Here, his declinations are also accurate being within a minute of the true decs -- but his RA's are 18 minutes of time too small. Were it not for the RA's of I4946 and I4948 (which Swift found just three nights later on the 11th) also being 18 minutes too small, I would find such large errors hard to believe. I am guessing here, but I suspect that Swift zeroed his telescope on the same wrong star on both nights. If Howe is correct that Swift recorded the same nebula twice in the same night, then it is also clear that Swift recorded this same object five different times as a "nova," and its companion four different times. I know of no other object with as many independent discoveries by the same observer, and announced as different objects. ESO, by the way, suggested that the numbers I5003 and I5007 applied to a star, and also speculated that I5004 applied to the same star, though with a 1 degree error in Dec. But Andris Lauberts did not have Swift's lists in front of him when he went over the ESO plates. In any event, there are only two galaxies in the field, and it is clear that Swift saw them both on at least four occasions that summer. It's also clear that by this time of his life (he was 77 years old in 1897), his visual memory was failing badly. Also, his 11th and 12th lists of nebulae are thoroughly comingled as far as discovery dates are concerned, so his record keeping skills were also in decline. But he persevered for another year -- he found his last nebulae in the waning months of 1898. ===== IC 5004 = NGC 6923. Swift found this galaxy in July of 1897. As with other nebulae found that summer (see e.g. I4946 and I5003), his declination and description are appropriate, but his RA is off, in this case by 6 minutes of time. John Herschel's position and description for N6923 are good. ESO speculates that the IC number applies to the same object (a star) as I5003, but with a 1 degree error in declination. This is unlikely as Andris Lauberts did not have Swift's papers, with the extensive descriptions of the star fields, in hand when he was scanning the ESO B-band plates. Andris, of course, had other things in mind when he did the ESO-B survey. ===== IC 5006 is a double star. Kobold found it on 23 Sept 1895, the second night he observed NGC 6906. The star about 20 arcsec northwest may be a part of the asterism, too, as Kobold noted "* 14 in F, vS, R neb." The fact that Kobold saw the two objects on the same night means that they cannot be the same. Also, his micrometric observations are unambiguous about which objects he measured. The double is pinned down exactly. ===== IC 5007. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5011 = IC 5013. These two IC entries, both found by Swift in the summer of 1897 (but on different nights: 25 July and 29 August, respectively) from Echo Mountain, are the 193rd and 194th objects in his big 11th list of new nebulae in AN. There is, however, nothing in the position for IC 5011. Because the descriptions are similar -- "pB, vS, eE" for I5011 and "eeS, eE in meridian; curious object" for I5013 -- I am pretty sure that Swift dug out the same galaxy. In that case, I5011 has a 1 minute 18 second of time error in its RA, while I5013 is only 8 seconds off. Both declinations are within an arcminute of reality. Swift does not say what makes I5013 a "curious object", and that phrase does not occur in any of the three papers where Swift published his third Echo Mountain list (where these two are the 15th and 16th entries). The galaxy's PA is around 5 degrees, and it is seen by us as nearly edgewise, so matches Swift's descriptions. Two of the companions are quite faint so would not have been seen by Swift, but the third to the southeast is bright enough that it might have been visible under good conditions. Perhaps this is the "curious" aspect of Swift's observation. ===== IC 5013 = IC 5011, which see. ===== IC 5015 may well be NGC 6925. Swift's description -- "pB, pS, R, nearly bet 2 sts with dist. companion" -- more or less fits the inner part of the galaxy (though I am puzzled about "with dist. companion"), but his position is well off. However, this is not unusual for the objects that he found during the summer of 1897 (see e.g. IC 4946 and IC 5003). Since NGC 6925 is the only galaxy anywhere near Swift's place, it could well be his object. I've adopted the identification, though with a colon. ESO made the object a star, but that does not match Swift's description. ===== IC 5018. See IC 4998. ===== IC 5026. This edgewise late-type spiral has a superposed star exactly where I'd expect to see the nucleus of the galaxy. The redshift (V = +15 +- 32km/s) given by da Costa et al. (ApJS 75, 935, 1991) is clearly that of the star; the redshift of the galaxy is +2751 +- 10km/s from 21-cm emission (Mathewson and Ford, ApJS 107, 97, 1996). The position that I've adopted is that of the superposed star; without higher- resolution images than those currently (November 2015) available through NED, I've found it impossible to determine seperate positions for the two objects. ===== IC 5029. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5030. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5039. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5041. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5046. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5047. See IC 5003. ===== IC 5049. Swift's position is 30 seconds of time west and 4 arcminutes south of a double galaxy. The southeastern component of the double is the brighter and larger -- but not by much -- of the pair, but both could well have contributed to Swift's observation. Both Andris Lauberts (in ESO-B) and I (in SGC) have taken both galaxies as parts of IC 5049, and I am going to follow that "convention" here. However, it is perhaps nearly as likely that only the brighter galaxy is the one that Swift picked up. I won't argue too much if you want to go that way. ===== IC 5052 is a large, late-type spiral seen exactly edge-on. There is no nucleus seen on any of the sky survey images, though the near-infrared image suggests an eccentric structure like that seen in NGC 55. In this case, the "bulge" is at the northern end of the galaxy. NED adopted the position from O'Brien et al (A&A 515, A60, 2010) based on the symmetry of the neutral hydrogen disk and noted that a position from the 2MASS Extended Source catalogue applies to the eccentric "bulge". I've given all these positions in the table, but have finally adopted the ESO-B position as representative of the optical image of the galaxy. ===== IC 5056 is probably a plate defect. It was the only new nebula that Stewart found on the one-hour Bruce plate (no. 3836) on which it appears. He described it as "F, cL, eE at 150 deg, no * N". There are no spindle galaxies within several degrees matching that description. ESO-B and Wolfgang Steinicke picked a galaxy at 20 49 13, -39 13.4 (J2000; ESO 341-IG016), but this is not "eE", it has the wrong PA, and it also has a stellar nucleus. All of these comments also apply to a galaxy at 20 48 28, -38 51.4 (J2000) that I suggested during my work on SGC. So, probably a plate defect. ===== IC 5057. This is a star superimposed on the western edge of NGC 6962. Bigourdan's position is exact, and his descriptions on two nights note the neighboring star south-southwest 1.5 arcmin away. See the discussion under NGC 6962 for more about the field. ===== IC 5058 = NGC 6965, which see. Also see NGC 6962 for a discussion of the field and the galaxy group here. ===== IC 5061 is a triple star. As with IC 5057, Bigourdan's position is accurate, as are his descriptions of the neighboring starfield. Both objects are identified with certainty. Curiously, Bigourdan twice published another new "nebula" in this area, Big 437 = Big 547. Even though Dreyer included Bigourdan's 436th, 438th, and 439th "novae" in IC2 (= I5057, 58, and 61, respectively), he skipped this one. I don't know why he skipped it, but this prevented another star from being included in the second IC. See the discussion under NGC 6962 for more about this field. ===== IC 5062 is a double star. Bigourdan's position corresponds to the RA of the southwestern star and the Dec of the northeastern. His description mentions the 13th magnitude star one arcmin west-northwest, so the identification is secure. This is not a reobservation of NGC 6968 as some have supposed. Bigourdan saw and measured both objects on the night of 7 October 1891. ===== IC 5065 is from Swift's final list of nebulae published in 1899. This object carries the date 8 September 1897, and a description that reads "vF, pS, R, 8m * in margin of field n." That final comment identifies the galaxy as ESO 463- G030 1.5 minutes of time east and 1.3 arcminutes south of Swift's position as the object he saw. There are no other objects in the area that he could have seen that have the bright star to the north. ===== IC 5067, 5068, and 5070 are three of the seven nebulae found by The Reverend Thomas Espin in 1899 and announced in AN No. 3633, 1900. These three are all in Cygnus near the "North American Nebula" (NGC 7000, which see) and may be part of the same complex of reflection nebulae. At least IC 5068 and IC 5070 are parts of the splendid "Pelican Nebula." I suspect that IC 5067 is a third part. Espin's position for IC 5067 falls on a nondescript area of sky with nothing obviously eyecatching that might be his object. IC 5068, however, is apparently a large (35 arcmin by 25 arcmin), diamond-shaped patch of nebulosity centered about 35 seconds east and 4 arcmin south of Espin's place. His position, though, is still well within the nebulosity (the brightest patch of this nebulosity is at 20 49 19, +42 26.1 for B1950.0). For IC 5070, Espin's position falls very close to the brightest strands of the nebulosity. This makes me suspect that he actually saw the large (35 arcmin by 18 arcmin) patch of nebulosity to the northwest of I5068. Its RA is 16 seconds off Espin's for I5067, but the declination is 1 deg, 25 arcmin south of his nominal declination. As with IC 5068, its brightest patch is off the center at 20 45 19, +42 47.4 for B1950.0. The relative brightnesses of the three nebulae, however, matches Espin's descriptions: "faint" for I5067, "very faint" for I5068, and "faint and diffused" for I5070. These words, by the way, are all that Espin has to say about the nebulae aside from their positions and discovery dates. Had he given us some indication of their sizes, we might be able to better pin them down. So, I've tentatively identified IC 5067 with the nebulosity northwest of IC 5068. This may not be correct, but there is nothing else in the area that fits as well. ===== IC 5068. See IC 5067. ===== IC 5070, the "Pelican Nebula", west of the "North American Nebula" (NGC 7000, which see). Of the three nebulae in the area found by Espin, this is the only one for which the position is good. See IC 5067 for the story. ===== IC 5076 is a fairly small (9 arcmin by 6 arcmin) diffuse nebula west of a bright star (BD +46 3011). Roberts's position is just east of the star, but as there is nothing else nearby matching his description, I've taken the nebula as the one he found. In addition to the BD star, there are many faint stars involved in it; I wonder if there might not be a star cluster here, too. ===== IC 5079 may be, but also may not be, the double star that I've listed in the position table. I had not noticed the duplicity of the star before now (November 2015); it is a very close double not in the latest Washington Catalog available on VizieR. Perhaps the second star helps explain Innes's observation. He found his object on 26 Nov 1897 with a 7-inch refractor in Cape Town, and described it as "Equal to a 9.7 mag star, elongated 15 arcsec; perhaps a small group of stars or a ring nebula." Unfortunately, his position is a "Circle reading", given to only full minutes of time and arc. The double the only object obvious near his position, and it has one or two fainter companions that might have enhanced the look of nebulosity about it. AC2000.2 has the B-magnitude as 12.6, though -- even allowing for an approximate visual scale, this is a long way from "9.7 mag". I'm still doubtful. ===== IC 5082 = NGC 7010, which see. ===== IC 5086 is probably ESO 464-G025. This would make Swift's position 1 minute of time too small, and 16 arcmin too far south. However, his description of the object "eeF, pS, R; F* near f 90deg" is appropriate. In particular, the "F* near f 90deg" is there. Given the bum position, the identity is not a sure thing -- but given the matching description, it's pretty close. ===== IC 5089. Barnard notes a star 30 arcsec south-preceding; the star is actually north-following. There is another fainter star just west of the galaxy. ===== IC 5095. There is no problem with the identification of this strange object; Royal Frost's position is within an arcminute of its central condensation. But there are two other objects superposed on the arms of the galaxy, equidistant from the center, one northeast, the other southwest. These form an apparent linear triple object, immersed in nebulosity. The resolution of the southern sky survey plates is not quite good enough to tell if the two flanking objects are superposed stars, knots in a single galaxy, or nuclei of three interacting galaxies -- or two interacting galaxies with a single star superposed. The 2MASS image makes the galaxy look like a single galaxy with a star superposed northeast and a knot to the southwest. But the "knot" is faint enough and small enough that it, too, could be a star. Based on the 2MASS image I'm going to suggest that IC 5095 is a single galaxy with a bright knot to the southwest, and a brighter star superposed to the northeast. But this is just one interpretation of the images; we'll need spectra of all three objects to tell us just what is going on here. ===== IC 5097 is probably the quadruple star I've listed in the table. Bigourdan has only a single estimated position: position angle = 140 degrees, distance = 3 arcmin from NGC 7045 (which is a double star; see that for more). Since there are many stars in the area, I'm not sure which object he actually saw. However, the quadruple is certainly an obvious choice. Malcolm, however, takes a double star (the western star is very faint) closer to Bigourdan's nominal position. I don't think this is the correct object but we would need an eyepiece observation to be able to better interpret Bigourdan's observation. And had he specified the distance to a tenth of an arcminute, I might be more inclined to take the position literally. As is, the position is crude, and we have some leeway to choose a more nebulous- looking asterism. Again, the four stars I've chosen strike me as a more obvious choice, but we really do need a telescopic inspection. ===== IC 5098 is probably the double star I've listed in the position table. See the discussion for I5097 for the reasons I take this double rather than some of the other stars nearer Bigourdan's nominal position. He gave the estimated position for this object only in the description for IC 5097 -- it is at position angle = 100 degrees, distance 2.5 arcmin from NGC 7045. With such a crude estimate, we have considerable latitude in choosing which star Bigourdan might have seen. So, this identification is also uncertain. Looking at this again in November 2015, I'm even less certain about the identification than I was earlier. The pair is relatively widely separated (about 12 arcseconds), so perhaps just the brighter star is the one that Bigourdan saw. But this, too, is a guess, so I've simply changed my earlier colons to question marks. ===== IC 5112 and IC 5113. Found by Bigourdan near the nominal position of NGC 7074 (which see), these are both either single stars or asterisms of faint stars. Bigourdan has only one micrometric observation for each of these, and neither position points directly to anything on the sky. However, his position for I5112 is 12 arcsec south of a faint star, and his position for I5113 is about the same distance northeast of another faint (though brighter) star (I earlier noted this star as a blended double; it is not a double in any of the three DSS images). In both cases, there are very faint galaxies (16th and 17th magnitude) just over an arcminute from the nominal positions, but Bigourdan could probably not have seen these with his 30-cm refractor. Nevertheless, I've listed the galaxies as well as the stars in the position table. Here is another case where visual confirmation would be useful. Of course, these may be additional cases of Bigourdan's "fausse images", "objects" just beyond the limit of his vision. We all have bad nights ... ===== IC 5113. See IC 5112. ===== IC 5114 = NGC 7091. Swift's RA is 2 minutes too small, and his declination 3.5 arcmin too far south. But his description "eF, pS, R; e wide D* f 30 sec" fits the galaxy provided one takes some liberty with his note "e wide D* f 30 sec". The "e wide" means 20 seconds of time, and "f 30 sec" is more like 50 sec (on average; the first star is actually about 40 seconds following). If we're willing to accept this, as I am, then the identity is pretty sure. Also see NGC 7091 for a story of its own. JH didn't get the galaxy right, either. ===== IC 5115. Swift's position falls near CGCG 426-060, a faint, low-surface- brightness spiral. There are several stars near to the west, but Swift's "F * near f" is nowhere to be seen. His full description reads "eeF, vS, F * near f; not 7068." This lack of the nearby eastern star, combined with the fact that Steve Gottlieb could not dig out this galaxy with his 24-inch reflector on two very good nights, has led him to suggest in an email of July 2019 that this particular CGCG object is not the one that Swift saw. Steve instead suggests CGCG 426-062, a considerably brighter galaxy that his 24-inch picked up with no trouble. Again, there is no star to the east, but there is one 0.85 arcminutes west. I'm going to second Steve's suggestion, and note that there are other cases where Swift has confused directions of nearby stars in his descriptions. CGCG 426-062 still deserves a colon for the larger position discrepancy, and the probable confused direction of the nearby star. CGCG 426-060 remains in the position table -- though with a query -- to reflect its status as the canonical, though probably misidentified, IC 5115. Steve points to one other mystery: Swift's mention of NGC 7068. This galaxy is 1.3 degrees from CGCG 426-062, well outside even Swift's 32-arcminute eyepiece field were it centered on the CGCG galaxy. Perhaps Swift mentioned it because it is the nearest NGC object to his own, and Marth (NGC 7068's discoverer) describes it as "vF, close to a S *". This is similar enough to Swift's own brief description that perhaps he feared that others might think he simply rediscovered Marth's object. ===== IC 5121 = NGC 7096. There is nothing in the place of I5121, so it is likely that Frost made an error of 30 arcmin in his declination (read -64 21, instead of -64 51). Significantly, he did not include NGC 7096 in his table of nebulae, though all the other NGC and IC1 objects that he found are listed. Nor did he mention N7096 as one of the objects that he could NOT find. So, its complete omission supports the idea that I5121 is in fact N7096. The descriptions of the objects are also similar. JH has "vF, S, R, 12 arcsec; has a vS ** nf, near," and Frost simply says "Plan., magn. 13" (Dreyer added "stellar" to the NGC description; that is not in Frost's table). As far as I can tell, Andris Lauberts is the first to have pointed out the equality. I must have picked up the identity for SGC from Andris's ESO-B as I do not have it noted in the SGC workbook. ===== IC 5126. Javelle misidentified his comparison star, so the galaxy's position in his list and in IC2 is about a degree north of the true position. His offsets are exact, however, as is his description, including the note "between 2 sts 14." ===== IC 5127 is probably identical to NGC 7102. Bigourdan's position is just five seconds of time too large, and his description is appropriate. However, he dates his three measurements to the same night on which he made three measurements of NGC 7102 (these reduce to the correct position). Since I've not yet found Bigourdan's error -- if there is one -- I'm not prepared to say for sure that the two objects are identical. However, it seems likely. See IC 2120 for a case where we are sure that Bigourdan saw the "same" object on the same night, yet apparently thought that it was a nebula once and a comet the next! One curious thing while I'm here: Bigourdan's comparison star for NGC 7102 (BD +5 4840) is almost exactly at its BD position, while that for IC 5127 (BD +5 4837) is nearly 4 arcmin away, as large an error as I've seen in the BD. Was this really the star that Bigourdan used? I don't see anything on the POSS1 prints that might be the star/galaxy pair matching Bigourdan's measurements (the galaxy being -3.83 seconds and -5 arcmin 44.0 arcsec from the star). So, a mystery -- but the objects are probably identical. But I'd certainly like to know what went on that evening in the western dome of the Observatoire de Paris. ===== IC 5132 and IC 5133 are two stars north of NGC 7129 embedded in very faint nebulosity. Roberts does not list positions in his short note in MNRAS 56, 380, 1896, but distances "from the centre (sic) of the tristellar nucleus of [NGC 7129]: (1) 358 [arcsec] north following; (2) [= IC 5132] 326 [arcsec] north preceding; (3) [= IC 5133] 277 [arcsec] north preceding." Dreyer apparently took number "(1)" to be NGC 7133 (which see), but as there is nothing in Bigourdan's position, Roberts's first object cannot be the NGC object. Roberts's first object, by the way, is at 21 43 50.35, +66 08 47.6 (J2000; from UCAC); I've called it "IC 5133 comp" in the position table. Dreyer is apparently responsible for the IC positions; they are 2-3 arcmin southwest of the stars, but the relative position between the two objects is pretty good. ===== IC 5133. See IC 5132. ===== IC 5134 is the part of NGC 7129 (which see) surrounding BD +65 1638. Bigourdan saw this only one night in October 1895. On two other nights in 1884 and 1889, he used this star as his comparison star for another patch of nebulosity which he called NGC 7129. As is clear from the Herschel's descriptions, however, the entire complex, at least 3 arcmin across enveloping three bright stars, comprises NGC 7129. ===== IC 5135 = NGC 7130 (which see). This is one of the identifications that Andris and I made during our southern surveys. JH's position is 30 arcmin off, and that for I5135 was rescued by Herbert Howe -- who also measured an accurate position for it -- from amongst the rubble of Swift's last two lists of "novae". In this case, Swift's position is actually not too bad. His note "sp of 2" and position place it southwest of NGC 7135. Of course, Swift called that the "nf of 2", thinking that it too was a new object. For more on that, see IC 5136. ===== IC 5136 is probably NGC 7135. Swift picked up IC 5136 on 15 September 1897, during his penultimate summer of observing. His positions from that time are notoriously bad (see IC 5003 for more on this). This one is no exception; there is nothing at all near his nominal position. However, NGC 7135 is about 55 seconds following and 1 degree, 14 arcminutes south (this is not sounding good at all, is it). But Swift's description fits, particularly that of the star field around the galaxy. Here is what he had to say, in full: "eeF, S, R; wide D* points to it, sev pB sts sf and np." The wide double is a few arcminutes to the southeast and is among the "sev pB sts sf". Were it not for the really bad position, off in both RA and Dec, I'd have little hesitation in declaring this a solid identification. As it is, I've put a question mark on it. Swift apparently saw NGC 7135 again just two nights later. It appears in his big 11th list as number 209 which Howe (and Dreyer after him) applied to NGC 7135. In any case, it is positively identified by Swift's note "3 B sts [p] form a triangle". The "p" comes from Swift's fourth list of Lowe Observatory "novae" published in Popular Astronomy, Monthly Notices, and PASP; that single letter did not make it into the eleventh list in AN, but the stars are so striking on the southern sky survey that anyone with just the eleventh list would know instantly which galaxy Swift had seen. ===== IC 5137 is most likely a defect on the original Bruce plate. Stewart marked it "susp"[ected], so it appears only on plate 4604. Since there are only very faint galaxies near his nominal position, Stewart's object is most likely just a defect. ===== IC 5143 = NGC 7155. This is one of the most southerly of the nebulae found by Lewis Swift. This may account for the large error in declination (25 arcmin), though the error may simply be a 30 arcmin circle reading error, combined with the usual uncertainty that we find in Swift's late positions. The declination, by the way, has the same value in all four lists in which Swift published this object (MN 58, 18, 1897; PASP 9, 224, 1897; Pop. Astron. 5, 427, 1897; and AN 147, 209, 1898 = No. 3517). In any case, the identity with NGC 7155 is secured by Swift's note about the field stars: "... in line with 2 9m sts sf; 7m * sf." The three stars are there. ESO's suggested galaxy is much too faint, and though SGC's double star is considerably brighter and nearer Swift's nominal position, there are no bright stars to the southeast. ===== IC 5144 is the southwestern of two nebulae found by Barnard (the second is IC 5145 with which there are no identification problems). Their positions and descriptions were not published before IC2 appeared, but were apparently sent directly to Dreyer. Since the position for I5144 falls on a blank area of sky, though near a group of galaxies, it is a very good thing that Barnard gave us a note about the surrounding star field: "F, S, sev F sts close f". This positively identifies I5144 as the brightest galaxy in a group of six or seven -- it has a jagged line of four stars just to the southeast. The galaxy itself is peculiar, high surface brightness, compact system with a dust lane crossing its southern half; and with a distorted spiral companion (or peculiar triple system?) just west. Barnard's relative position between the galaxies is pretty good, too, so knowing the identity of I5145, we can be sure of I5144 even without his note about the stars. Unfortunately, the modern catalogues do not all pick up the same objects in the group. CGCG got I5144 and another galaxy just east-northeast, while MCG made that second CGCG galaxy I5144 (though put a question mark on the number). MCG also picked up a larger spiral to the east-southeast, UGC 11845 (UGC has I5144 in the Notes). These are all close enough that both NED and PGC initially got confused over the identities. Chantal Petit sorted out LEDA some time ago, and I've cleaned up NED, so the current (June 2003) versions of the databases are correct. ===== IC 5145 is the northeastern of two of Barnard's nebulae (see IC 5144 for more about them). Even though his position for it is not very good, and even though he gave no description for it, there are no other galaxies near it, so its identification is unmistakeable. ===== IC 5148 = IC 5150. Found first by W. Gale in June of 1894, it was correctly described by him (in AN 3426) as a "... ring nebula, almost circular, 1.5'+- in diameter; the center is not completely free of nebulosity." He credits the description to "Mr. Baracchi, Director of the Melbourne Observatory," who examined the object with the 48-inch Melbourne reflector, then one of the largest telescopes in the world. Swift rediscovered the planetary in July of 1897, and correctly described its location relative to two nearby stars, one of which is just off the edge of the annulus to the south-west. So, there is no doubt that the two numbers refer to the same object. Swift's position is, as usual, not particularly good, and neither is Gale's. In spite of its large quoted standard deviation, the GSC position is very close to the central star. ===== IC 5149 = ESO 466-G027 = MCG -05-51-033. Though Swift's position is typically bad, he notes that a "6.5 mag star same parallel follows 63 seconds." This positively identifies the galaxy as ESO 466-G027 rather than the somewhat brighter (but further from Swift's position) ESO 466-G024. ----- Observing in September 2018, Steve Gottlieb concurs, saying in an email on 18 September, ... It's certain that IC 5149 = ESO 466-027, based on Swift's comment "...6 1/2 mag star same parallel follows 63s". But this implies he missed ESO 466-024, which I found somewhat more prominent in the eyepiece and is only 11' away, in the same eyepiece field! So, IC 5149 and perhaps IC 5239 (which see), are just two examples where the observer, working close to his visual limit, notices one object but misses a slightly brighter neighbor. Just our imperfect eye/brain combo. I couldn't agree more. ===== IC 5150 = IC 5148, which see. ===== IC 5152. This big, southern, late-type, spiral has a very patchy structure. In particular, the center of the galaxy has several knots and clumps of stars that might represent the nucleus. I've taken the eastern of these -- closest to the center of the "bulge" as seen on the DSS2IR image -- as the center of the galaxy itself. This, of course, may not be the nucleus (if there is one), but it is enough to find the galaxy on the sky. An earlier position that I found from an HST image was apparently compromised by a poor astrometric solution, or was a different clump of stars, so I've rejected it. The bright star superposed on the northwestern side will interfere with not just visual observations, but not to the extent of the star on NGC 988 (which see). ===== IC 5153 is probably the star, perhaps mixed with a bit of the galaxy's light, that I've listed in the table. Bigourdan's single estimated position is just a dozen or so arcsec south of the pair -- though I am amazed that he could have seen this, even on a splendid night. Nevertheless, he has it the right distance from the nearby star that he mentions, so at least the faint star apparently really did catch his keen eye. ===== IC 5154 is apparently a "ring galaxy", an object that is apparently the result of a collision between a spiral and an elliptical or spheroidal. This structure shows up best in this case on the DSS2 red image where the annulus is south of two brighter knots. Other examples include NGC 1143/44 and IC 298 (all of which see). Since the automated surveys don't see the fainter center of the ring, I've adopted my own position from the red DSS2 for that object, and have adopted the mean for the entire IC 5154 system from my own estimates. 2MASS, GSC3, and UB10, of course, have positions for the two knots to the north, and I've adopted the 2MASS PSC positions for them. ===== IC 5155 is a double star. Bigourdan's measured position falls between the two stars, though his estimated position angle toward a neighboring 13th mag star is wrong -- I make it 185 degrees rather than 95 degrees. This is close enough to 180 degrees out that I wonder if Bigourdan simply confused his directions. ===== IC 5159 is a single star. Bigourdan measured it five times, so his position is within a few arcsec of the modern position. ===== IC 5163, IC 5164, and IC 5166 (with a faint companion star) are all single stars or, in the case of I5163, an asterism, near the nominal position for NGC 7210. Bigourdan actually found four objects here that he thought nebulous, but only three ended up in his list of "novae" and thus in the 2nd IC. The fourth (which he called "NGC 7210B" in his table) has only a single observation, while the others have two each. However, IC 5163 is a curious case. Bigourdan's two observations of this object fall about 25 arcsec apart. He was not sure that they were the same object, speculated that they might be, but finally gave them separate numbers in his list of "novae". Dreyer combined them in the IC under the single number. I wonder if he asked Bigourdan about this. It turns out that Bigourdan's observations refer to different parts of a line of three stars about an arcminute long. The first observation is closer to the northeastern of the stars, while the second is nearly on the middle star. This middle star has a companion much closer to the southwest than the northern, so is reasonably taken as a double star on the POSS/DSS. ===== IC 5164 is a star. See IC 5163 for the story. ===== IC 5166 is a star with a faint companion. See IC 5163 for the story. ===== IC 5167 is a star, even though a fainter double star is closer to his nominal position. Bigourdan managed to make two measurements of a position angle, but not a distance, to his comparison star before being clouded out. So, his position is only approximate. However, he also noted a neighboring star about 2 arcmin to the northwest. This star unmistakeably identifies the star to which the IC number applies. ===== IC 5168. In a July 2019 email, Steve Gottlieb points out that the galaxy nearest to Swift's position, ESO 467-G011 (V = 14.9) does not have the faint stars nearby mentioned in the original descriptions: "eeF, vS, vE, right angled triangle with 2 F sts near sf" (but see below). This description is from Swift's Popular Astronomy (5, 426, 1897) List No. 3 of nebulae found at Lowe Observatory, and is the most complete account of the galaxy and its nearby stars that he published. In his other two List 3's (in MN 52, 631, 1897; and PASP 9, 223, 1897), Swift describes the stars somewhat differently: "... right angled triangle with 2 F sts near" and "... forms right angle 2 vF close stars [no 'with' in this one]." Finally, in his big combined "Catalogue No. 11 of Nebulae" in AN 3517, he simply says "...[triangle] with 2 F sts", where "[triangle]" is a triangle symbol. Steve goes on to say, "In this case, I can suggest perhaps a better candidate. ESO 467-015 = HCG 91B, about 10' NE of Swift's position, is a slightly brighter edge-on (still quite faint in my 18") with two mag 14.5 stars less than 2' ne and se forming an equilateral triangle. Another possibility is that Swift made a re-observation of NGC 7214, which also has two nearby mag 13 stars, though s and sw. NGC 7214 isn't noticeably elongated visually (to me), though if you include HCG 91D = PGC 68155 at the north edge, it could appear elongated N-S." Given Swift's account of the flattening of the galaxy as "vE", I can't give much credence to the idea that Swift was observing the brighter NGC galaxy, nor, from his email, do I think Steve does either. However, ESO 467-015 (V = 14.2) looks like it fits Swift's description reasonably well -- aside from the relative position of the two stars. Even taking Swift at his word -- in three out of the four accounts he published -- he claims that the galaxy makes a "right angled triangle" with the stars. This is at odds with Steve's far more accurate "equilateral triangle", which does indeed describe ESO 467-015 and its accompanying stars very well. Looking at the usual identification, ESO 467-G011, I notice that there are two stars north -- not south -- and east that form another nearly equilateral triangle. The stars, however, are not particularly faint (ASAS3 makes them V = 11.40 and 12.85). Could the fact that all these objects were only 30 degrees above Swift's southern horizon at Mt. Lowe have introduced enough extinction to make the stars appear "faint"? The other problem with this interpretation is that in one description, Swift says "2 vF close stars" -- does he mean the stars are close to his nebula, or close to one another? I would not call these two stars "close" in either case, but Malcolm Thompson has pointed out that Swift uses the nearly-synonymous word "near" for stars that are as far away from his nebulae as eight to ten arcminutes. Given that, 2.5 to 3 arcminutes is indeed "close". But the stars near ESO 467-G015, at 1.7 and 1.8 arcminutes, are "closer". So, in the end, we have two candidate galaxies for Swift's object and conflicting evidence from his position and descriptions: 1) Swift's position is nearly coincident with ESO 467-G011. 2) His description of the nebula could fit either ESO 467-G011 or -G015. 3) ESO 467-G015 (V = 14.2) is brighter than -G011 (V = 14.9), so is more likely to have been seen by Swift. 4) Both galaxies form triangles with nearby stars, though neither triangle is the right triangle that Swift describes. 5) The stars near ESO 467-G011 would better match Swift's description if he made a mistake, calling them "south following" rather than "north following" as they really are. 6) But those stars (V = 11.4 and 12.9) would probably not appear "faint" or "very faint" in Swift's 16-inch refractor. The two stars (V = 14.5 and 14.8) near ESO 467-G015 almost certain would. I'm going to follow Steve's suggestion and adopt ESO 467-G015 as IC 5168 -- but with all the caveats noted here. So, double colons for that galaxy, and a question mark for ESO 467-G011. ===== IC 5170. The IC position, from Joseph Lunt working with the Cape Town 18-inch telescope, is much closer to NGC 7213 than to the galaxy we usually take as IC 5170. The difference in positions is only +0.5 minutes of time, and -1 arcminute from the NGC galaxy, but is -2.7 minutes and +2.3 arcminutes off the standard identification. Lunt also gives no description for the object, so had he not mentioned that his new object was near NGC 7213, I suspect that we would have taken his object to be identical to JH's. As is, with no other galaxy within nearly a degree being as bright, I can see why the southern observers took this object for IC 5170. Given the history, I'll do the same, though with the caveat of the large position difference. See IC 5224 for a bit more about Lunt's short list of new objects. ===== IC 5171. Lunt's RA is about half a minute of time too large, and his declination is just 1.1 arcminutes too far south, so the galaxy is close enough to his position to be easily identified. See IC 5224 for more on Lunt's new nebulae. As with IC 5181 (which see), I just have to ask why JH missed this ... ===== IC 5173. We should check the Harvard plate to see if Stewart's object is just the eastern component of this interacting double system, or if it includes the western object as well. I'm being a bit cautious here because the western galaxy is relatively compact and might have appeared as a star on the plate. Until we know for sure what the plate shows, I'm listing both galaxies under the IC number. ===== IC 5179 = IC 5183 = IC 5184. As with IC 5003 and its synonyms (which see), Swift swept up this galaxy on three different nights in the summer of 1897, his last full summer of searching for nebulae. One of those nights, 26 July, is, perhaps not coincidentally, one of the nights on which he saw IC 5003. He picked up this galaxy first on 19 July, giving it a position of 22 15 28, -36 52.5 (precessed to J2000.0) and describing it as "pF, pS, lE, bet 2 sts in meridian, 8 1/2m * sp, np of 2". The "sf" is IC 5186, which also see. I immediately suspected problems since he placed IC 5186 at 22 16 18, -36 50.5 for J2000.0, north following, not south as Swift states. There is nothing at his position for IC 5184 (as this observation eventually became). On 26 July, he found a nebula at 22 13 19, -36 52.7 (J2000). This one he described as "vF, L, R, * close S, B * sp". Finally, on the 20th of September, he has another nebula at 22 15 21, -35 50.6 (J2000): "pB, C, [sic] S, F * in contact sf, sev pB sts form segment of large circle." These became IC 5184 and IC 5179; like IC 5183, there is nothing at Swift's position. However, at 22 16 09, -36 50.6 (J2000), is a large, bright galaxy between two stars almost on a north-south line with it, with a brighter star to the southwest, and inside a nearly complete circle of stars. While Swift mentions only some of the stars in each description, it's clear that the galaxy can match all of his descriptions with very little forcing. The positions are typical of his last year or two of observing: full of large accidental errors, and also filled with digit errors. By this time, Swift was 77 years old, and I suspect he was getting tired of trekking up and down his observing ladder to read the setting circles of his 16-inch refractor. It's also possible that his eyesight was beginning to fail, too. We know from the obituaries that he did go blind in his old age. In any event, the positions can all be more or less reconciled with the true position of the galaxy with digit errors, though a large helping of random error is needed here and there, too. The galaxy itself is a fairly large and bright one, somehow missed by JH during his southern sweeps from the Cape of Good Hope. The central region is knotty and complex, not well-seen on the DSS images. NED has two convincing images that show the nucleus clearly: one from 2MASS, and the other from the Carnegie Atlas (from a Las Campanas 2.5-meter plate) which shows an unresolved, essentially stellar nucleus. I've taken the brightest infrared source from the 2MASS PSC as the nucleus. What about IC 5186, "south-following of two"? Briefly, it looks like Swift's RA is 2m 35s out, but the galaxy can be recovered by his description of the star field around it. See its story just below. ===== IC 5181. This is in a group of galaxies with NGC 7232 and 7233, and those that we now call "NGC 7232A" and "NGC 7232B". Lunt's position is poor (+1.1 minutes of time and +7 arcminutes off), and it is possible that he actually saw "NGC 7232A". Lunt has unfortunately left us no description of his object. However, the galaxy we usually take as IC 5181 is a large, bright nearly edgewise object, with a considerably higher surface brightness than the suffixed NGC object. It is more likely to have been picked up in a search for a comet (as Lunt was doing) than the fainter, smaller "NGC 7232A". See IC 5224 for a bit more on Lunt's observations with the Cape Town 18-inch telescope. With that caveat, I'll take the standard identification of IC 5181 as correct. And I have to ask -- what was JH doing when this galaxy went by? It is not only brighter, but has a considerably higher surface brightness than NGC 7232 itself. ===== IC 5186. Swift found this on 19 July along with the IC 5184 observation (see IC 5179 for that). Remarkably, he makes its position 22 16 18, -36 50.5 (J2000), within 9 seconds of time of the brighter galaxy. His description, though, rules it out as a second observation of the same object on the same night: "eeF, S, R, F * nr p, * 8 np". This fits the star field around a fainter galaxy at 22 18 47, -36 48.0 (J2000), rather far -- but not uniquely so -- to be called the "sf of 2". Still, it is the only other galaxy in the area bright enough to have been easily seen by Swift. The note on IC 5179 = IC 5183 = IC 5184 has more on this field. Coincidentally, Swift's published position is close to the real position for IC 5179. This galaxy was also picked up by Delisle Stewart on a Harvard plate, so "D.S." is included by Dreyer as one of its discoverers. Stewart should really be credited with the discovery of I5179 et al as that is the galaxy that he found on his plate. ===== IC 5189 is a star without nebulosity. Bigourdan has only a single observation of this, but his position is good. ===== IC 5191, IC 5192, and IC 5193. These are three nebulae credited to Barnard (in AN 4136). Dreyer did not give individual positions to them as Barnard did not provide them, either. Instead, Barnard merely published a sketch of six nebulae (two being NGC 7240 and N7242, four being "new") along with the claim that he made the observations in 1888. Dreyer, realizing that IC 1441 must be among the six, only listed three as new. One other new object was found here by Bigourdan, and this has received the number IC 5195 (which see). To sort out which numbers apply to which objects here, we need to identify the previously known nebulae. The two NGC objects are no problem, nor are Bigourdan's two "novae" (IC 1441 and IC 5195). Having pinned these down, and noting that IC 5195 was not seen by Barnard, we are left with the other three objects in Barnard's sketch. I've assigned the three IC numbers as Dreyer would have, in RA order. The only remaining question concerns the nature of IC 5192. On the Palomar Sky Survey, it looks like three or four faint stars plus a galaxy (MCG calls it a "group"). The less deeply exposed CCD image in John Vicker's northern Deep Space CCD Atlas also suggests that the object is a galaxy surrounded by three or four stars. Steve Gottlieb's observation of the group confirms this. So, I'm inclined at the moment to say that IC 5192 is a galaxy plus the stars, as Barnard's sketch shows only a nebula in this position. ===== IC 5192. See IC 5191. ===== IC 5193. See IC 5191. ===== IC 5194 does not exist. Bigourdan saw the object on one night in October of 1894 while searching for NGC 7246. He has one measurement of it, and his description reads (in rough translation), "Extremely faint object which I could not recover after the first pointing." He never saw it again, though he tried once more in October of 1898. There is nothing at all in his place, not even a faint star. See IC 5198 for more. ===== IC 5195. The NGC description placing this "0.5' s N7242" is wrong. Bigourdan states explicitly in his description "toward PA = 45 deg, d = 0.5' with respect to N7242" and his offsets from N7242's position are consistent with this. This points directly to the compact galaxy north-following N7242, and not to the star south-following as the true IC 5195. One other curious note about this object: it is IV Zw 90 and is placed by Zwicky just where Bigourdan places it. Zwicky gives a redshift for it in his catalogue of compacts, but the redshift in fact belongs to NGC 7242. This is clear not only in Humason's list in HMS, but also on the back of Zwicky's original finding chart where he describes the object: "Neutral spherical compact 25 arcsec NE of NGC 7242 [m_p = 14.6, V_s = +5684 km/sec] m_p = 16.4 (not in CAT)" ("CAT" is Zwicky's personal acronym for the CGCG). ===== IC 5198 = NGC 7246. Malcolm Thomson has sorted this one out. Bigourdan made several errors in his search for N7246 (which is just where the Herschels saw it), the first of which was to search half a degree too far south. Thus, his not finding N7246 is not surprising. Casting about the area, however, he came across two other objects, one of which (IC 5194, which see) does not exist. He has eight measurements of the other (IC 5198) with respect to two "anonymous" stars. Unfortunately, neither of his comparison stars is where he says they are: 10 seconds preceding, 21.5 arcmin north; and 17 seconds following, 15.5 arcmin north of BD -16 6057. Malcolm noticed, however, that there are stars matching Bigourdan's estimated magnitudes (9-10 and 11.5, respectively) at the same RA offsets but at 27.5 arcmin and 24.5 arcmin north of the BD star. Applying Bigourdan's measurements of IC 5198 to these stars points to within an arcsecond of NGC 7246. The identity is thus sure, but the errors (6 and 9 arcmin) are unusual. ===== IC 5201. Though Lunt's position is off the galaxy by 20 seconds in RA (see IC 5224), there is no mistaking this large, beautiful southern barred spiral. This is one of those objects that we feel JH must have surely seen during his South African years, but there is no trace of it in his sweeps. Its arms do have quite a low surface brightness, so it would have been only the bar that JH would have picked up, but still ... ===== IC 5204 is probably NGC 7300. Swift found it the same night that he found I5228 = N7302, and describes it as "vF, eE, a ray; p of 2." There is nothing within a degree of Swift's position that matches this description. However, we know that IC 5228 is certainly NGC 7302; the positions match to within 10 seconds of time, and there is nothing else nearby that could be Swift's object. His description reads, "pB, pS, R; B * nr s; f of 2." The bright star is there, and this galaxy is the "f of 2" with the preceding object being NGC 7300. Looking at Swift's position for IC 5204 (22 20 41, -14 24.0 for J2000.0), we see that it is about 10 minutes west and 20 arcmin south of N7300. Given that Swift's description could well apply to the bright inner part of N7300, I'm going to suggest simple digit errors in Swift's position. ===== IC 5214. There are a few candidates for this object -- but it is more likely lost. Swift found his object on 26 July 1897, during his last full summer of sweeping up new nebulae at Lowe Observatory. Andris suggested in ESO-B that it might be ESO 467-G047 one minute of time west and 9 arcmin north. But that galaxy is neither round, nor does it have an 8th magnitude star preceding as Swift noted (Swift's full description from his last list reads "eF, pS, R, 8m * p"). This also may be MCG -05-52-063 six minutes of time west and 7.5 arcminutes north; that has a 7th magnitude star to the west-southwest and could otherwise match Swift's description. But other galaxies Swift found the same night (IC 5029, IC 5030, IC 5157, IC 5179, and IC 5304) are generally east of Swift's positions by up to three minutes of time, while the declinations are usually within a couple of arcminutes (ignoring the digit errors in the Decs for IC 5029 and IC 5030). So, the position alone is enough to make MCG -05-52-063 merely a suggestion, too, barely worth noting here, let alone in the position table. Another candidate is ESO 533- G 024 = MCG -05-52-071, 52 arcminutes north of Swift's position; the RA is the same. This is also the brightest galaxy within a degree or so of Swift's place. Arguing against this are the other galaxies that Swift found the same night with their systematic eastward RA differences from Swift's positions and generally correct (within the errors) declinations. Also, the star to the west is 11th magnitude, hardly the "8m" that Swift estimated. So, there are no good candidates for IC 5214 that I've yet seen. Given Swift's bad positions from his last year of observing, perhaps a search over a wider RA range would be appropriate. ===== IC 5216 is lost. Javelle found it on the night of 9 June 1896, and referred it to a 10th magnitude star at 22 17 20.2, -18 51.9 (1860.0). There is nothing at this position. In a footnote, Javelle says that he measured this position with respect to BD -18 6130. This is SAO 165097. Its 1860 position is 3m 8s following, and about 1 arcmin north of the nominal position of the missing comparison star. Searching at these offsets with other signs, I don't find any 10th magnitude stars. Searching for a star-galaxy pair with Javelle's nominal offsets turned into a fruitless exercise, too. None of the (just three) galaxies within two degrees of his position has stars at those offsets. A couple of peculiarities caught my eye with this entry in Javelle's third list. First, this is the only object he found and measured on the night of 9 June 1896; the local time would have been around 3AM. Almost all of his other June observations occur in the 11 to 14.5 hour zone where you might expect an evening observer to be working. Second, this is the southern-most object in Javelle's third list by at least fifteen degrees. What was he doing up that late, and that far south of the equator? Perhaps observing a comet? Is IC 5216 actually the comet he was looking for? Speculation, sure, but Javelle measured SOMEthing. Whatever happened, I have to conclude that he made some sort of gross error in his position or measurements for this object, or his object has moved away from the position he measured it in -- I cannot find IC 5216. ===== IC 5224. Thinking of comets ... (see IC 5216 for some speculation about another object found by another observer). Joseph Lunt was searching for Brorsen's Comet in 1900 with the Cape Town 18-inch, and found five new nebulae near NGC 7213, 7232, and 7233. They are IC 5170, 5171, 5181, and 5201 (all of which see), as well as IC 5224. The positions are given to 0.1 minutes of time and 1 minute of arc, and are clearly approximate (Dreyer added an unwarranted ".0" to the declinations for these five in IC2). While the actual positions of the objects are off by varying amounts -- a full minute of time in the case of IC 5224 -- and Lunt gives us no descriptions, there are usually no other objects nearby that he could have picked up as easily (but see IC 5170 and IC 5181), so the identifications have not been too problematic. ===== IC 5225 = NGC 7294. Leavenworth found the NGC object; he gave it a typically poor RA (2 minutes east of the true position) though an adequate Dec. The object was eventually identified by Howe, who micrometrically measured a very good position (see NGC 7294 for what little more there might be to say about all of that). Swift rediscovered the galaxy about a decade after Leavenworth's observation, and gave it a remarkably detailed description: "eeF, pS, R, between 2 stars; a dozen stars in margin of field following, form semicircle; 4 stars north preceding [form] a curve, one [star] a double; south preceding of two" (the second is IC 5226, which is actually south-following, not north-following as Swift implies. See that for more.). This description matches the field around NGC 7294 perfectly, especially keeping in mind that Swift used an eyepiece that gave a field of 33 arcminutes across. Swift's RA is 36 seconds too small, a fact that will help us identify I5226. ESO suggested that I5225 might be ESO 533-G039 = MCG -04-53-007, or that it might be ESO 533-G025 = MCG -04-52-045. The positions are further off, and the fields around these galaxies do not match Swift's description. ===== IC 5226 is ESO 533- G045 = MCG -04-53-010. Swift found this the same night as he did I5225 = N7294. Though his positions by this time in his life are so bad that it is almost impossible to identify systematic offsets within one night's observations, this is one case where it works: his RA's for this and for I5225 are off in the same direction and by similar amounts (36 seconds for I5225, and 48 seconds for this). This also means that his declination is exactly one degree too far north. But when his position is corrected, we find a galaxy that matches his description ("eeeF, pL, R, no * nr") very well. However, Swift apparently based his additional comment "nf of 2" on his written positions because the galaxy is actually the "sf of 2." In any event, the identification is reasonably secure. ===== IC 5228 = NGC 7302. The identity is certain. See IC 5204 for the story. ===== IC 5237 = NGC 7361. Even though Swift calls this "eeeF, eeeS, eeeE, eee dif", he adds "... a line. 8m * np." These comments make the identification with N7361 almost certain, even though Swift's RA is nearly 2.5 minutes of time too small. JH also has a two minute error in the RA, but that is clearly a digit error; see the note for N7361 for that story. ===== IC 5239. There is a 10 minute of time digit error in Swift's RA -- it is too large. The galaxy, ESO 345-G017, matches his description "vF, pS, R" pretty well. It is also the only galaxy in the area that he could have seen. Another double galaxy sometimes mistaken as I5239, ESO 345-IG038, while closer to the nominal position, is much too faint to have been seen by Swift. Its combined R magnitude is only 16.0, while that for 345-G017 is 13.4, well within range of Swift's 16-inch on Echo Mountain. ----- So I wrote not long ago when I was reviewing my earlier work on the IC. In the meantime, Steve Gottlieb did some observing in the area and had this to say in an email in September 2018: I was able to take a look a few of Swift's questionable IC objects at the star party using my 24", including IC 5239. As you commented in your summary, there is nothing near Swift's position that he might have seen (ESO 345-IG 038 is much too faint) and assuming a 10 minute time error (too large) then ESO 345-017 is a reasonable candidate. I logged this galaxy as "extremely faint, small, round, 18" diameter (core only seen), required averted vision." Interestingly, just 18' further E and 1.3' south is ESO 345-021, which was somewhat more obvious in the eyepiece (about 1/2 magnitude brighter). I called it "very faint, small, roundish, 20"-24" diameter." ESO 345-021 is 8 minutes of RA west of Swift's position and a very good match in declination. So, I'd suggest ESO 345-021 is also a reasonable candidate for IC 5239. Following Steve's observations, I've adopted ESO 345-G021 as the most likely candidate for Swift's object, but retain ESO 345-G017 as a possibility. ===== IC 5248. There is nothing in Bigourdan's place (derived from two measurements on 30 Oct 1891), not even a faint star. I checked the usual possibilities of wrong signs and misidentified comparison stars, but nothing worked. There is in fact one wrong sign in his table, but it is on the declination offset of just one measurement -- the other declination offset is correct. Finally, Bigourdan's comparison star is claimed to be BD -01 4344; that is also the "base" star for his measurement of NGC 7364 for which he used another nearer star, but gave approximate offsets to that one from the BD star. That trail led directly to the NGC object, so the BD number is correct. So, once again, Bigourdan seems to have pushed his eyes too far, and picked up random intraocular fluctuations as a result. This set is a bit unusual as it persisted long enough to be measured twice. Another "fausse image"! ===== IC 5250 is probably the western of the double interacting galaxy near Stewart's position. He describes his object as "cB, S, R, F * 0'.5 f". Since the galaxies are separated by about 30 arcseconds, it is possible that he picked up the eastern object as a star. His position is closer to the western galaxy as well, but since he gives it to only 0.1 minutes of time and 1 arcminute, it could refer to either object. We'll need to check the plate, of course, but it seems reasonable to suggest that the IC number applies to the western galaxy. On the other hand, the eastern galaxy is not only a bit larger and brighter, but it has a pretty faint star superposed 10 or so arcseconds to the southeast. Assuming that all this is blended together into a single image on Stewart's plate, it may also be reasonable to suggest that he has his directions reversed, and that he meant to write "F * 0.'5 p". So, until we can do that plate check, I am simply going to designate both galaxies as parts of IC 5250. ===== IC 5251 is a triple star. Bigourdan has only one estimated position for this, but it is fairly close to the triple (22 45 10, +11 09.8 for J2000.0), and the identification is not in doubt. Carlson has this listed as a single star, but the IC position is close to the triple, too, so I'm not at all sure why the Mt. Wilson folks called it a single star. ===== IC 5255, 5259, and 5268 are three objects found by Barnard, and apparently not published. Unfortunately, some large error affects his positions, and I've been able to recover only I5259 with confidence. Its description reads "Neb; D * 9.5 f 2 arcmin". The double star clearly identifies CGCG 515-011 as Barnard's nebula -- it is 2.5 minutes of time east, and 2.5 arcmin south of the position in IC2. Unfortunately, applying the same offset to the other two objects yeilds no galaxies or asterisms. Looking over the field, though, I wonder if CGCG 515-013 might not be IC 5255, and NGC 7440 IC 5268. But these are wild guesses, and I do not even feel confident enough about them to put them into the table. I don't see anything else here, though perhaps I've missed something. (Wolfgang chose a position among a group of 6-8 stars for IC 5268, but skipped the other two. I don't think his choice for IC 5268 is correct -- Barnard called his object "B, S" -- but I've left it in the table, with a double query, for you to ponder.) So, one out of three. All right for baseball -- but not for galaxies. ===== IC 5259 is CGCG 515-011. It is clearly identified by Barnard's description: "Neb; D * 9.5 f 2 arcmin", even though the position is 2.5 minutes in RA, and 2.5 arcmin in Dec, off. See IC 5255 for more. ===== IC 5260 is probably NGC 7404. If so, Swift's position is +20 seconds, and +2 degrees in error, and his description, including the "9m * nr sp" is accurate (the star is HD 216443). Given that no other galaxy closer to his nominal position fits as well, I've adopted the identity. ===== IC 5262 is the brighter of an interacting double galaxy positively identified by Swift's notes "bet a * p and a wide D nf, 8m * f". However, he calls it the "np of 2" without listing a "sf of 2" object in either table where he published this. The closest object that he could mean in his lists is IC 5271 which is actually northeast of IC 5262. Swift probably meant to say "sp of 2" for IC 5262 -- or could he have seen the second galaxy and neglected to list it in his "catalogues"? ===== IC 5264 is not, in spite of a note to the contrary in one of the Helwan publications, lost. It is a perfectly good galaxy southwest of IC 1459 = IC 5265 (both of which see). Swift's position is not too good, it's true, but his description "vF, S, eeE, a ray sp of below stars; sp of 2" points right at it once we realize that the "below stars" are those described in the IC 5265 notes. One curiosity: in his 11th list in AN, where Swift combined all of the lists of nebulae found by him at Lowe Observatory in Southern California, he has the discovery dates of IC 5264 and IC 5265 as different: 10 June 1896 and 16 June 1896, respectively. In the first list, published separately in both AJ and PASP, he has the discovery date for both as 2 September 1896. It may be possible that he found one of the galaxies while overlooking the other, but I find it hard to believe that he overlooked the brighter (by far!) while seeing the fainter. ----- In March 2018, Steve Gottlieb wrote that he had found this object in Barnard's observing log: ... [Barnard] discovered IC 5264 on 15 Dec 1889 while measuring IC 1459 (discovered 2 nights earlier) with the 12-inch refractor [at Lick Observatory]. Barnard wrote in his logbook, "a small faint neb'y about 4[arcminutes] S and 1[arcminute] p this neb [IC 1459]. Small and elong in parall[el] nearly [~E-W]." He didn't take the time to measure accurate offsets, but the description clearly applies to IC 5264. As this entry wasn't published or passed along to Dreyer, Swift received discovery credit in the IC. Ironically, regarding his discovery of IC 5264, Swift wrote (in a note to his 3rd Lowe Observatory list), "I am glad I have at length found in Barnard's field a nebula his keen eye failed to see." It turns out that wasn't the case! (Barnard's observing log is now available online at http://collections.ucolick.org/archives/attachments/ms_000300/ms_000304/MS000304-1.pdf .) ===== IC 5265 = IC 1459. Swift himself first suggested this identity, but Dreyer instead chose N7418 (about half a degree on further south) as being the correct identification for I5265. Swift, in this case, was right. See IC 1459 for more. ===== IC 5268 is probably lost, though it just might be NGC 7440. See IC 5255 for the story. ===== IC 5271. See IC 5262. ===== IC 5273 was apparently seen by Barnard on 13 December 1889 on the same night that he found IC 1459 (which see). But he did not send the position to Dreyer. The only clue that his log book offers is an intermediate reduction with the hour of RA being 23 instead of 22. Perhaps this uncertainty led him to withhold the discovery. Here is what he had to say about it: "1' diam, R, gbM, 12m with[?] some small xs [stars]" [New line:] "Same as last night?" [New line:] "not in N.G.C. Cat." This more or less matches the description that Swift provided a decade later. Barnard gave a position of 22 53 26, -38 16.3 for 1889.0; this precesses to 22 59 39, -37 40.6, about two arcminutes off the modern position. The previous night, Barnard saw a single nebula at "[alpha] 22 53 [new line] [delta] = -38 25 See Dec 13" from a single, crudely estimated observation followed by the note "Fogged all over here [new line] and the entire heavens blotted out --". Steve Gottlieb has noted that Barnard's description from this night, "R, 1' dia., 12th mag" also refers to IC 5273. (The sky cleared later on, and Barnard began to measure Comet Brorsen, "... but clouded all over [a]gain and cut the obs. short --". Such is winter observing in Northern California!) The observation is obviously crude, and the declination is not corrected for a known offset as it was the following night. In any case, here is another nebula like IC 5264 (which see) found by Barnard -- but not announced -- that was later picked up by Lewis Swift. ===== IC 5275 is a triple star exactly at Javelle's position. There is another star just southeast which may also have played a role. ===== IC 5278. See IC 5385. ===== IC 5281 is a double star -- merged on the DSS, but well-separated in the SDSS image -- exactly identified by Bigourdan's two measurements. He also notes a star (which really is a double) 2.5 arcmin to the east-southeast -- that star is there. ===== IC 5289 may be a ring galaxy similar to NGC 985, or it may be a double or multiple system. The DSS1 image is not quite clear enough to tell. At the moment, I favor the single galaxy interpretation. ===== IC 5290 may also be NGC 7520, which see. ===== IC 5294 = NGC 7552. Swift's RA is only 9 seconds of time off the galaxy, and his declination and description (including the "8m * p") even closer. There is no doubt about the identity, first suggested by de Vaucouleurs. Helwan took Swift at his word, however, and says "Not found" for IC 5294. ===== IC 5300 itself has no particular identification problems -- it is the brightest of a double system. However, the DSS1 has a defect 10 or 15 arcsec to the east that, at first glance, looks like a multiple interacting system. It had an entry in the position table for a time; my apologies. (For the record, the "position" I measured for the defect is 23 16 36.5, +20 49 49 for J2000.0). ===== IC 5303 is a double star -- assuming that it is B351 as well as B350 as noted by Dreyer. B350 is one of seven of Bigourdan's new objects which have no detailed observations given in his main tables of differential positions (see IC 532 for more on these seven). He apparently found it on 5 October 1891, just about a week after he found B351, for which he does list an observation. Since the positions in his lists of new objects in his Appendix VII are the same for these two objects, the data probably refer to the same object. In this case, both numbers refer unambiguously to a double star. Interestingly, Bigourdan's description mentions a possible double star in the center of the nebulosity. Many of the "nebulae" that he observed are nothing but stars. Why did he think so many of these faint single and double stars were nebulous? I speculated earlier about a slight imperfection in the optics he was using, combined with less than perfect seeing. But I think now it was purely a seeing problem. Bigourdan would have known his optics intimately, and would surely have been able to compensate for any problems with them. ===== IC 5305, IC 5306, and IC 5307 were all found by Kobold. Curiously, I5307 was first seen by Bigourdan eight year earlier in 1889, but he mistakenly recorded it as NGC 7594 (which see; he also saw N7594, but thinking it a nova, listed that as a "new" object. Thus, Dreyer gave it an IC number, 1478). Kobold's positions are all good, and pin down the objects that he saw. One of his objects is the northern-most of the line of three "stars" which Ainslie Common mentions in his discovery description for NGC 7594 (the other two really are stars). IC 5306 has a faint companion just north-preceding not seen by the visual observers. As with several similar cases, the precision of Kobold's positions has not prevented the modern catalogues from misidentifying the objects. ===== IC 5306. See IC 5305. ===== IC 5307. See IC 5305. ===== IC 5308 is almost certainly NGC 7599. Swift's position is less than 2 arcmin south of NGC 7599, and his description makes his object the "f of 3" (the preceding two are, of course, NGC 7582 and NGC 7590). I think that he somehow confused the NGC entries for the nebulae in the area and, thinking that NGC 7590 was NGC 7599, added the note "f of 7599." In any event, there is no nebula "f of 7599" that he could have seen. And given that his observation of the galaxies would have been less than fifteen degrees above his Southern California horizon -- at best! -- the remainder of his description "eeF, S, cE" would match the central part of NGC 7599 pretty well. As far as I know, Wolfgang was the first to explicitely adopt the equality, though ESO has the note "Part of N7599?" Helwan makes I5308 the double star just southwest of the galaxy, but if this were true, Swift would almost certainly have noted this. ===== IC 5311 is either a double star northeast of Bigourdan's single estimated position, or it is the fainter single star directly south. The nominal position is between the two, somewhat closer to the fainter star, so we have conflicting evidence. My guess is that Bigourdan saw the brighter double star (though the companion to the primary star is much fainter than either of the other two in this discussion), but a guess is all it is. His position is not good enough to tell for sure. It may be that this is another of his "fausses images", but that, too, is a guess. All we can say for sure is that the IC object is not NGC 7625 as that was his reference object. ===== IC 5312 is the northwestern and brighter of a close pair of galaxies. Though Javelle's position points directly to the object, his description includes the note "... d'aspect granul'e". The galaxy is an SB(s)a with broad, smooth arms, not noticeably "granulated" in any of the images. Did Javelle perhaps glimpse the companion? If so, the pair together might take on a mottled aspect at the eyepiece. ===== IC 5313 = NGC 7632. Swift found this in August of 1897, just a few months before his last discovery from Echo Mountain. His position is fairly good, being just 14 seconds of time off in RA. The identity with N7632 is assured by Swift's notes about the surrounding stars: "10m * nr sp, 11m * f". He has the 10th magnitude star simply as "south" in the AN list, but correctly notes it "south-preceding" in the Popular Astronomy list. ===== IC 5318. There remains a faint possibility (well, all right, a desperate attempt at saving the NGC number) that this may also be NGC 7646, which see. ===== IC 5320 and IC 5322 both have 1 minute of time errors in their RAs -- they are east of IC 5323 and IC 5324 rather than west. The errors occur in Frost's original list in HA 60 as well as in the IC. ===== IC 5321. Herbert Howe found this for us, pointing out that Swift's declination in the big 11th list in AN 3517 is one degree too far south. The correct declination is, however, in Swift's "Catalogue No. 1 of Nebulae Discovered at the Lowe Observatory, California, for 1900," where it is number 43. Swift published this first list twice, in PASP 8, 304, 1896 and in AJ 17, 27, 1897, and Howe's note appears in MNRAS 60, 130, 1899. Howe also points out that the AN article has a "F * close nf", while in the PASP and AJ lists, the star is noted as "np". Howe found the star "np" (northwest), which is where we see it today. ===== IC 5322 forms a nice pair with IC 5320, which see. ===== IC 5323. Stewart mentions in a remark that Frost also found this and IC 5324 on a later Harvard plate, but Frost does not give a separate position. Also see IC 5320. ===== IC 5324. See IC 5320 and IC 5323. ===== IC 5327 = IC 1495. There is no question about the identity of IC 1495; Javelle's position, even reduced with respect to the BD position for his comparison star, falls near the galaxy. However, Barnard's position is about 30 seconds of time too small, and almost six arcmin too far south. This is clearly one of Barnard's estimated positions. Unfortunately, this is one of the objects that he apparently sent directly to Dreyer -- I don't find any mention of it in the copies of Barnard's articles that I have. Still, his description, including the 11th magnitude star one arcmin following (actually north-following), fits the galaxy. There are no other galaxies nearby that match the entry better that Barnard could have seen, so this is the most likely candidate. ===== IC 5330. This is one of Bigourdan's more peculiar "novae". He has three observations of it on a single night, two referred to a star at 23 33 38.8, -02 51 50 (J2000; AC2000.2); and one referred to another fainter star at 23 33 30.6, -02 59 13 (again J2000 from AC2000.2). The first two observations point clearly at a faint star that I've included in the table as IC 5330. The final observation falls about 20 arcsec away from an even fainter star that is nearly two arcmin away from the one I've called IC 5330. Bigourdan gives no indication that he knew that the observations were of different objects aside from an enigmatic sentence: "In this area, I suspect other nebulous objects at the extreme limit of visibility." This is a peculiar statement for him to make as there are no galaxies anywhere around brighter than about 17th magnitude, well below his visual limit. I suspect here, as with IC 5311, that "fausses images" are responsible for the "objects" that Bigourdan himself suspected. ===== IC 5331. See IC 5336. ===== IC 5333 = NGC 7697, which see. ===== IC 5336 belongs to (perhaps) both objects in a pair of faint galaxies in Abell 2626. Javelle's mean position falls between the two galaxies, but is closer to the southeastern of the pair. That is about 0.2 magnitudes brighter than the northeastern, but has a lower surface brightness. Javelle comments that the object is extended along the meridian, though I think that he swapped his descriptions for IC 5336 and IC 5337. Here the descriptions as he gives them (my translation): J 1453 = IC 5336 Faint, elongated following the meridian, 25" to 30" [in diameter], ill-defined, [has the] appearance of a very slightly condensed whitish spot. J 1454 = IC 5337 Faint, nearly round, 20" to 25" [in diameter], gradually condensed, shows a nucleus of 15th magnitude. IC 5337 is indeed seen edgewise extended along the meridian, and might indeed appear "ill-defined", so I am pretty sure that the descriptions are indeed switched. However, this still doesn't help us to decide which of the pair Javelle actually saw. Is there a systematic offset in his positions, or anything else having to do with them that might help us? First, he has observed three galaxies (IC 5336, 5337, and 5338) with respect to the same comparison star on two nights. The differences in the measured positions average -0.62 seconds in RA and +7.2 arcseconds in Dec, both significant night-to-night differences. Second, the differences between Javelle's positions and the modern positions -- for three other galaxies (IC 5331, IC 5337, and IC 5338) observed on the same night (24 November 1899), and referred to the same star (BD +20 5355) -- are +0.27 seconds in RA and +0.13 arcseconds in RA. Given the 1-sigma standard deviations (+-0.57 seconds and +-4.41 arcseconds), these differences are not significant. In other words, knowing the offsets and accuracy of Javelle's positions does not, unfortunately, help us decide which object he saw. My guess is the southeastern of the pair, but that is all it is, a guess. Perhaps work at the eyepiece would help with this case. In the end, I'm going to assign the IC number to both objects with directional suffixes. This is clearly not an ideal solution, but is perhaps the best we can do at the moment. ===== IC 5337. See IC 5336. ===== IC 5338. There is either a star or a very compact companion superposed just a few arcseconds northeast of the nucleus. It looks like a companion on the DSS images, but a star on the SDSS image. This could also be a case of a galaxy with a double nucleus. Based on the SDSS image, I've called the northeastern object a superposed star. The two objects are close enough together that most of the automated surveys pick up just one object or the other. Also see IC 5336. ===== IC 5340 is the result of two discordant observations made by Bigourdan on 2 Dec 1894. They give positions about 30 arcsec apart, neither of which falls near a star or a galaxy. This seems to be another case of Bigourdan's pushing too hard to glimpse an imagined object, or one that was caused by a random pulse of "light" in his visual system. In other words, another "fausse image." Wolfgang chose a star over an arcminute away from the nominal position, but I do not think that this star has anything to do with Bigourdan's "object." It is quite faint, and there are two other brighter stars that Bigourdan might have picked up instead. ===== IC 5341. I've been curious about this object for many years. Herbert Howe found it with the 20-inch Clark refractor at Chamberlin Observatory in Denver while observing NGC 7720 (which see) in Abell 2634. Howe measured its position micrometrically which has pinned the object to the sky as the north- western, slightly fainter galaxy of a pair of relatively compact ellipticals. He describes it as "eF, eS, near 7720". His description of the nearby IC 5342 -- which is, by the way, not the brighter, southeastern galaxy of the pair -- is identical. That galaxy, too, was micrometrically measured by Howe, so its identification is also unambiguous. My question is why Howe did not at least notice and mention the galaxy just to the southeast of IC 5341. I suspect the answer lies in a note that he has attached to IC 5342: "[This] looks like a star of mag. 13, blurred atmospherically. Other faint nebulae are suspected in its vicinity." IC 5341 and its companion are almost identical to IC 5342, so Howe's note could just as well apply to them as to the galaxy he put it on. In any event, there is no mistaking the correct identification of Howe's new nebulae in the cluster, even though he did not measure a couple of other nearly identical galaxies that he glimpsed. ===== IC 5342. See IC 5341 and NGC 7726. ===== IC 5344. While there is a faint star about 35 arcsec southeast of Bigourdan's position (from one micrometric measurement), there is nothing that matches his description. He also notes "This area could be rich in extremely faint nebulae which would need a larger instrument." There are no galaxies in the area that he could even glimpse in his 12-inch refractor, so IC 5344 must be the result of pushing his optics too hard. ===== IC 5348 = NGC 7744. Swift's RA is only 17 seconds of time off, but he and Dreyer missed the identity with N7744. I suspect Dreyer thought that the object was too faint (Swift describes it as "vF" or "eF, eS, R, stellar", while JH description boils down to "cB, S, vlE, svmbM *14" in the NGC. I have to confess that that made me look carefully, too -- and there is nothing else in the area that Swift could have seen. The identity is virtually certain. ===== IC 5350. See IC 5362. ===== IC 5353. See IC 5362. ===== IC 5354. This is the western component of a double galaxy in the cluster Klemola 44 = Abell 4038. ESO picks only the brighter galaxy as the IC object, but given Swift's description "eeF, S, R, 3rd of 5", it could well be both. Howe gives a refined position which points at the brighter galaxy, but has no additional description to help us. Given that Howe almost certainly saw the brighter galaxy, and that he is credited in the IC as a co-discoverer, I don't see any reason not to follow along. ===== IC 5358. See IC 5362. ===== IC 5360 is probably lost, though there are some possibilities (more on those in the next paragraph). Originally found by Swift in September of 1897, he describes it simply as "eeF, cS, R, in vacancy". Unfortunately, there is nothing near his nominal position, and there are about a dozen pretty bright stars scattered around it as well, hardly a "vacancy" in Swift's 33-arcminute field if this is what he was looking at. Possibilities for his object include ESO 349- G011 (which may also be IC 5365, which see), ESO 349- G019, or ESO 408- G012. All these are quite faint for Swift to have seen, and only the first (and faintest) is actually in a "vacancy". Its position is over 9 minutes of time and 3 arcmin off, too. While errors that large are not unprecedented during Swift's final year of observing (see e.g. IC 5003 and Co.), I'm hesitant to declare a match here without a more detailed description of the surrounding star field from Swift. ===== IC 5361 = NGC 7761, which see. ===== IC 5362 = IC 5363, which see. I5362 itself is the last of five nebulae which Swift found on 24 July 1896. The others are I5350, I5353, I5354, and I5358, the brightest galaxies in the cluster Klemola 44 = Abell 4038. Swift's positions (absolute as well as relative) and descriptions for these five objects were just good enough that Herbert Howe could recover the galaxies without too much trouble. Dreyer adopted Howe's micrometrically measured positions for all five, so there has been little doubt about the identities since. ===== IC 5363 = IC 5362. Swift's published description is "vF, eS, R, 3 sts in line p, one D" for IC 5363, and "eeF, pS, nrly bet an 8m * nf and a 9m * sp, nearer the former; 5th of 5" (see I5362 for more on these). His position for I5362 is well off, but that was corrected by Herbert Howe who found the galaxy 1m 34s following Swift's place. Swift's description, including the nearby stars, is correct. His position for I5363 is 34 seconds west and 16 arcmin south of I5362. There is nothing there, however. But if his "3 sts in line" are made "following" rather than "preceding", this would be his object -- the middle of the three stars is double. Given that Swift's positions are notoriously bad during this last year of his observing (I5363 was found on 24 July 1897), the identity is not unreasonable. ===== IC 5364. Here is another double galaxy, probably also in Klemola 44, though well south of the center of the cluster. It is easily and positively identified by Swift's note "8m * sf" (the star is more "s" than "f"). Some have taken the brighter, eastern component as Swift's galaxy, but I prefer to adopt the pair itself as the IC object. The two galaxies are pretty closely merged, and would probably be difficult to separate at the eyepiece. Speculation, of course. Observations needed! ===== IC 5365 is another of Swift's nebulae found at Echo Mountain that we cannot now recover. He describes it as "pB, C[sic]S, eE, 1 * near sf." The galaxy chosen by ESO (ESO 349-G011) is not "pB", is not "eE", and has no star "near sf". Nor is there a galaxy within several degrees of Swift's position that matches this description. Since this is the only object he found on 25 Sept 1897, we have no way to check for a systematic offset. So far, the only digit errors I've checked are +-1 and +-10 minute errors in RA, +-1 degree and -10 degree errors in Dec. There is nothing at any of these positions. ----- Malcolm has suggested a digit error of just +1h RA. With this correction, the galaxy Swift found may be NGC 7418. However, his description only vaguely matches the galaxy. Though it is indeed "pB", it is not "eE", nor is there "1 * near sf". The galaxy is nearly round, and there are three nearer stars than the one southeast: one is northwest, and two others are southwest. I also note that the 1 hour error is not exactly one hour, but is 1h 0m 59s if NGC 7418 is Swift's object. Here are the positions: Swift uncorrected: 23 57 35 -37 01.5 Swift "corrected": 22 58 01 -37 02.8 NGC 7418: 22 56 36 -37 01.8 So, I am skeptical. I mention the possibility here, but am not convinced that the NGC galaxy is Swift's object. I should also point out that this object is number 25 in Swift's 4th list from Lowe Observatory; the position and description are the same in all the publications of that list as they are in the big AN 3517 collection that he called his "Catalogue No. 11 of Nebulae." ===== IC 5366. There is nothing at Barnard's nominal position (published only in the second IC) aside from some patchy obscuration. However, the IC object may be the very faint, extended nebulosity two degrees south, best seen on the blue survey images. It's possible, of course, that Barnard's object is a defect on one of his plates. But he does not include the area in his atlas of Milky Way fields in the Lick Publications, Vol. 11, 1913, nor is it in his 1927 Atlas. For the record, his description from the IC reads, "eL, mE (30' by 10')". ===== IC 5368 = IC 1523. Barnard's description from IC2, and not otherwise published, reads "eF, vS, lbM, 3 arcmin p or f from omega Piscium" -- he must have been in a rush the night he found it, and he did not check the first IC, either. Had he, he would have found his friend S. W. Burnham's entry for IC 1523 which notes the star 3 arcmin following the nebula. Barnard's position given in the IC is that for the star, while Burnham has the correct position for the galaxy. ===== IC 5377. See IC 5378. ===== IC 5378 and IC 5379. Found by Isaac Roberts on a plate of NGC 7814 taken with his 20-inch reflector, these two objects -- and the surrounding stars -- are clearly described by him. He measured positions with respect to NGC 7814, and lists them assuming that the NGC position is correct. [IC 5378] 23 55 28, 74 09.4 [1860, north polar distance]. F, Ens, 1 of 3 sts 15 inv, cond at n end, length incl st 42 arcsec. [IC 5379] 23 55 31, 74 11.8 [1860, NPD]. F, S, Epf, FN, star 17 close to p end. The first description and position points exactly to an interacting pair as I5378. There are two 15th magnitude stars just preceding, and the nucleus of the southern galaxy is about the same magnitude and almost stellar. The fainter companion galaxy is just north of the brighter southern object, and on a small-scale plate, would almost certainly be mistaken for part of the brighter galaxy. The pair is Arp 130, and the 200-inch photo shown by Arp is very good indeed. Similarly for I5379, the description and position are exactly matched by the galaxy just south-following the pair. Just as Roberts claims, this object has a faint star just preceding it, and is indeed extended nearly east-west. In addition, the other two objects (I5377 and I5381) found on the same plate by Roberts are just where he places them, and the descriptions match. There is thus no question about the correct identifications for these two objects. ===== IC 5379. See IC 5378. ===== IC 5381. See IC 5378 and IC 5383. ===== IC 5383 may be unrecoverable. At least, I can't find it. Javelle's published position falls on a blank patch of sky two or three arcminutes from the nearest candidate galaxy (later catalogued as number 742 by James Keeler in his list of new, faint, nebulae found on Lick 36-inch plates taken around 1900). Javelle lists his reference star as BD +15 4927, the same star which he used on two nights to measure IC 5381 (for which Javelle's position is correct). The discovery date was 10 November 1893; IC 5381 was found two nights later, and reobserved on the 13th. Javelle makes a couple of typical errors in his lists: reversing the signs of one or the other (or both) of his measured offsets, and misidentifying his comparison stars. Checking the first possibility led nowhere -- all the resulting positions are in blank fields. The second kind of error seemed likely after looking at the POSS. BD +15 4928 is about 3 arcmin northeast of BD +15 4927, and is very nearly the same magnitude. Again, however, checking all of Javelle's possible offsets from this star turned up nothing except very faint stars (B = 18-19) that he could not have seen. A rather cursory search of the area a couple of degrees around the nominal position also showed no galaxies at the correct offsets from other stars of similar magnitude. So, the unhappy conclusion for now is "Not found." ===== IC 5384 is probably also NGC 7813, which see for the story. There is no doubt about the IC identification. ===== IC 5385 is lost, at least for now. It was seen once by Herbert Howe on 27 Dec 1894, but he did not have time to micrometrically measure its position. So, it -- along with three other nebulae that he found in 1894 and 1895 (IC 1564, 1567, and 5278) -- has only an approximate position along with a sketchy description, "eF, prob. S". Unlike the other three nebulae, though, there is no trace of IC 5385 near Howe's approximate position. The other three, assuming the identifications I've adopted are correct, are within 22 seconds of time and 7 arcmin of Howe's nominal positions. The closest galaxy of magnitude similar to the others (about V = 13.5-14) is well over a degree away, and does not have a position error suggestive of a simple digit mistake. Perhaps larger digit errors might yeild a candidate. A search at 1, 2, and 10 degrees is in order here, and 1 and 2 hours as well. ----- That search turned up CGCG 382-029 at 00 10 39.4, -00 03 10 and MCG +00-01-056 at 00 16 54.9, -00 05 18 (both J2000). Judging by other galaxies which Howe calls "eF, S", either could have been the object he saw. However, neither seems likely enough to be listed in the position table. They are still in the realm of speculation. ===== IC 5386 = NGC 7832, which see. Swift's position for IC 5386 is about 18 seconds of time too large, and three arcminutes too far south. Howe's micrometrically-measured position is very good, but neither he nor Dreyer noticed that NGC 7832's position (from JH) is nearly the same. The identity is not in doubt. =====