NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 3848 is probably NGC 3822, and NGC 3852 is probably NGC 3825. The two questionable identifications are a pair found by William Herschel on 15 March 1784, III 35 and III 36. He describes them as "Two on parallel, 3 or 4 arcmin distant. Both eF, vS," and assigns a single position to the pair. Dreyer, in the Notes to his 1912 edition of WH's papers, claims for N3848, "Observed by Bigourdan, place correct." For N3852, he says, "RA possibly 1 minute too great (see II 64 [NGC 4352]). Not found by Bigourdan." This is curious, as Bigourdan clearly states "Not seen, at least in a sure way" for N3848, and "Not seen" for N3852. Perhaps there is a note in one of Bigourdan's Comptes Rendus papers. In any case, Bigourdan has precise measurements for NGC 3822 and NGC 3825, and identifies them correctly. They are 2 minutes west (not 1 minute) of WH's positions for N3848 and N3852, and they match WH's description well. Other fainter galaxies in the area include NGC 3817, 3819, 3820, 3833, and several CGCG/MCG objects. Since N3822 and N3825 are the brightest of the lot, they are most probably the ones that WH picked up. Incidentally, the five brightest of the galaxies (NGC 3822, 3825, 3817, 3819, and 3820, in order of descending brightness) form Hickson's compact group number 58. The group is in the foreground of a very rich distant field of galaxies, well seen in the red DSS2 image.

===== NGC 3848 See observing notes for NGC 3822.