NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 4046 = NGC 4045. D'Arrest himself first suggested this identity, and Dreyer repeated the suggestion in an NGC note. Unfortunately, the Mt. Wilson observers (probably Hubble) took another, fainter galaxy on to the east (CGCG 013-049). This appeared as a "correction" to the NGC position in Table 3 of Dorothy Carlson's 1940 ApJ paper. However, reading d'A's full description makes it clear that he did in fact see NGC 4045 (a joint translation from his Latin by James Bryan and me): "Makes a triangle with two stars 13 and 16, southward and following the nebula 6.6 seconds." While the Mt. Wilson object does make a triangle with two stars, they are nearly of equal brightness, and they are north and west of the galaxy, not east and south. The stars near NGC 4045 are close to where d'A says they are -- though it is just possible that his southern star is actually CGCG 013-045 (sometimes called "NGC 4045A"). This fainter galaxy has a faint star just southwest that d'A might have seen. Eyepiece work is called for here. D'A's eastern star, the brighter of the two, is closer to 5.5 seconds east rather than his 6.6 seconds. Is this perhaps a typographical error of some sort? It seems more likely to me to be simply a rough observation. So, the bottom line is that d'A certainly made a 15 arcminute error in his declination. The identity is therefore sure.

===== NGC 4046 See observing notes for NGC 4045.