NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 4437 = NGC 4517 with a 5 minute error in the RA. Reinmuth first suggested the identity, but when Dorothy Carlson picked it up, a typo in her list made N4437 = N4417. This was copied into RC1 where it hung on until I fixed it for RC2. JH's description leaves no room for uncertainty about the identification; he describes the galaxy and the nearby star perfectly. His father's position and description are also appropriate for the galaxy and star. Interestingly, WH lists it as the 5th of his class of "planetary" nebulae, apparently because of the supposed interaction with the nearby star. This shows that his classification system had not yet settled down early in 1784 when he first saw the galaxy. WH's reference to "Fig. 6", by the way, points back to his 1784 paper, "Account of some Observations tending to investigate the Construction of the Heavens," where he first discussed the "stratum" of nebulae that we now call the Local Supercluster. This paper has sketches of 15 of his nebulae and clusters, unfortunately poorly reproduced in the 2003 reprinting of the Scientific Papers. Michael Hoskin's 1963 book "William Herschel and the Construction of the Heavens" has a far better reproduction of WH's sketches as its Plate 1. The position I've adopted is for the stellar object near the center of the bulge, just south of the dust lane. This may be a superposed star, but is nevertheless at an adequate position to represent the galaxy.

===== NGC 4437 See observing notes for NGC 4517.