NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3386 and NGC 3387. John Herschel found these two and NGC 3385 (which is 4 arcmin south of N3386). They were reobserved by d'Arrest whose positions for N3385 and N3386 match Herschel's. However, d'Arrest placed N3387 very close following N3386. The Sky Survey shows nothing near d'Arrest's place except a very faint star that Herschel did not mention. The NGC adopted d'Arrest's position for NGC 3387. This turned out to be a mistake because very close to Herschel's position is a triple star. Brian Skiff has found that the two southern stars share a common proper motion, while the northern is apparently only an optical companion. There is a star east-northeast the triple that is probably Herschel's "B * near." Additional notes: CGCG calls the northern object "N3386/87" and notes it as a "double nebula." The MCG also calls it "N3386-7," but assigns the companion a magnitude of 19 and places it 0.3' northwest -- which describes its position and appearance exactly, and which makes it far too faint and in the wrong position relative to N3386 to have been seen by Herschel or d'Arrest.

===== NGC 3386 24" (3/22/14): fairly faint, small, irregularly round, 20"x16", weak concentration. NGC 3385 lies 4.3' S. A mag 11 star lies 3.0' SE. 17.5" (3/28/92): very faint, very small, round, weak concentration. Forms a pair with NGC 3385 4.3' S. This is a double system with NGC 3387 (not seen).