NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 993 = NGC 994. Marth found this in January of 1865, and only observed it once. Nevertheless, his position is good. That and his brief description (eF, vS) is enough to identify the galaxy he saw. Swift redisovered it 20 years and some months later in October 1885. His description of the galaxy and the surrounding star field exactly matches Marth's object: "eeF, pS, R, vF * close; bet a pB * and a F D *; np of 2 [the 'sf of 2' is NGC 1004] ..." So far, so good. But then Swift adds, "... not [GC] 5251 [NGC 993], 5264 [N1016] nor 602 [N1073]." This led Dreyer to assign a separate NGC number in spite of the virtually identical positions and descriptions. Swift seems to have confused another galaxy in the field with Marth's object. But I can't venture a guess as to which one it might be. I don't see any nearby that are bright enough for him to see that he has not already named. Perhaps there is an asterism in the area that he picked up. Whatever he did, there is no doubt about which galaxy he saw -- it was the same one that Marth saw (the identity was first suggested in CGCG, by the way).

===== NGC 993 18" (10/21/06): faint, small, round, 25" diameter, even surface brightness. A mag 14 star lies 30" N. Located between two mag 10 stars 6.7' SW and 4.3' NE at the west edge of the NGC 1016 group. 17.5" (12/28/94): fairly faint, small, round, 20" diameter, moderate concentration with a very small brighter core. A mag 13.5 star is just 34" NNW of center. Located 4.4' SW of a mag 9.5 star. An unequal double star (mag 12/14 at 19" separation) lies 3' E. Located at the west end of the NGC 1016 cluster.