NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3779 = IC 717, which also see. A. A. Common found this sometime in 1880 along with NGC 3775. He gives a position for N3775, but notes this as only "... another 5' nf, eeF." Dreyer either concocted a position for the object from Common's published information, or asked Common to provide one. I suspect the latter because the NGC position is given with the usual precision that Dreyer adopts for other of Common's nebulae (see NGC 3858 = NGC 3866 for a case where this usual precision is not used). That position is not all that bad as it turns out. Unfortunately, Frank Muller only measured a right ascension for the galaxy, and that is marred by what I think is a transcription error (see the IC 717 note for more), but his description fits the galaxy perfectly. So, the identification with IC 717 is certain in spite of the missing declination and the bad RA. The identity of the two numbers was first suggested by Herbert Howe in 1899. Curiously, his position is just one arcminute too far north, one of the few times that we find an error in his work. I wonder if this, too, is due to a transcription error. Howe also "... suspected another [nebula] between it [N3779] and 3775." But this is only a faint star; it would have been near the limit of his 20-inch refractor.

===== NGC 3779 17.5" (4/9/99): extremely faint, fairly small, round, 0.5'. Was not able to locate initially at 220x but once picked up with averted a dim glow was visible <50% of the time. Located 6.8' NE of brighter NGC 3775.