NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 135 = IC 26. There is no doubt about the identity of IC 26 -- Javelle's position agrees to within 2 arcsec of that measured on the DSS. The problem comes from Leavenworth's position for NGC 135. Like many of the positions in the two lists of new nebulae from Leander McCormick Observatory, that one is over a minute of time off in RA, though much closer in declination (less than 2 arcmin off). Herbert Howe went after the object around the turn of the century (19th to 20th) and said simply, "The position is 00h 26m 43s, -13d 53.3m [1900.0]." This agrees exactly with the position for IC 26. Leavenworth has left us a sketch that verifies Howe's object, so the identity is secure. It's interesting to note, too, that the cover sheet for the sketch has the RA given to a tenth of a minute (00h 24.8m), while the RA in the published paper is rounded off to 00h 25m. I won't even speculate on why this was done.

===== NGC 135 17.5" (10/21/95): faint, very small, round, weak concentration with a slightly brighter core. Forms a quadrilateral with three mag 14 stars, all within 2'. Located 3.5' SW of a mag 9.5 SAO 147324. IC 27, misidentified as NGC 135 in the RNGC and PGC, lies 20' ESE. It appeared very faint, small, slightly elongated ~N-S, very low surface brightness. Located 7.9' SSE of mag 8.9 SAO 147331 and 8.6' NW of mag 8.6 SAO 147330. MCG -02-02-051 lies 13' N.