NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

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NGC1551

 

Basic Information


Location and Magnitude


Right Ascension: 4:19:38.1
Declination: +2:24:34
Constellation: TAU
Visual Magnitude: 12.0

Historic Information


Discoverer: Herschel W.
Year of discovery: 1785
Discovery aperture: 18.7

Observational


Summary description: F, vS, R, probably = 835
Sub-type: E-S0

Corwin's Notes

===== NGC 1551 = NGC 1550. WH made a recording or transcription error of exactly one degree in the NPD of II 464, placing it on the parallel with his comparison star (44 Eridani). D'Arrest could not find the object and was the first to suggest that it might be the same as N1550, just one degree north of WH's place. Dreyer added a note to this effect in NGC, and later adopted it as a "definitive" answer to the problem, as indeed, it seems to be. JH has a comment in GC about the object, noting a 5 arcmin difference between CH's reduction and Auwers's. He attributes this to CH using an incorrect NPD for the comparison star. He says nothing about the larger one degree error. Finally, while I'm splitting hairs, WH's description in Dreyer's 1912 edition of the Complete Papers reads, "F, vS, r," while GC and NGC both have "F, S, R". Since JH had access to WH's records, it may be that he corrected another mistake. Or it may be that Dreyer or his typesetter made one. A check of the original paper in Philosophical Transactions could eliminate at least one of these possibilities. A look at the Herschel Archives at the RAS (or at any library which has the microfilm version) would be needed to check the other.

Steve's Notes

===== NGC 1551 See observing notes for NGC 1550.