NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3401 may be a triple star. WH was the only one to observe it, his observation was apparently rushed (his description reads only, "eF, no time to verify"), and his data are not internally consistent. His table places it 5 min 42 sec preceding and 23 arcmin south of 56 Leonis. However, in his note in the 1912 Scientific Papers, Dreyer says, "In the sweep, it is 1.9 min p, 3 arcmin n of II 131 [N3423]." Reducing these two offsets leads to positions separated by 1 min and 5 arcmin. There is nothing at either position. Between five to ten arcmin southeast of the position reduced from the N3423 offset (10 46 45, +06 09.5; B1950.0), there are one or two asterisms of stars that WH might have picked up. The positions are far enough off, however, that I doubt these stars are WH's object. However, Jeffrey Corder has suggested that the triple star listed in the position table may be object that WH stumbled over. It has about the right total magnitude, and Jeff describes it as "... fuzzy-looking and hard to resolve." It is also reasonably close to WH's position, so could well be his object.