NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 629 is a short line of five stars six or seven arcminutes west-southwest of Struve's position. I've pulled the data for this from Auwers's list of novae attached to his catalogue of WH's nebulae and clusters. There he notes "Not seen in the Heliometer." However, Struve's description ("Irregular nebula with 3 stars") with his 9-inch Fraunhofer refractor certainly fits the asterism well enough. It reminds me of NGC 7150 (which see), another -- though somewhat smaller and fainter -- asterism also found with a refractor (the 15-inch at Harvard) by an experienced observer (G.P. Bond). I note that Brent Archinal sticks rigorously to Struve's "3 stars", choosing only the three north-eastern stars. My feeling is that the other two stars are also part of Struve's object.

===== NGC 629 17.5" (10/13/01): near Struve's position is a striking 1' chain of 5 stars mag 12.5-13.5 extended WSW-ENE. Two of the stars at the following end of the chain form a very close pair. There is also a wider trio of stars which follows by 6', but this is a courser, less interesting group in the field and less likely to fit Struve's description "3*+ neb".