NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 5299. There is a +30 arcmin error in the GC and NGC declination, but JH's original CGH observation is correct. Once we look in the right spot, we find a large (roughly 25 arcmin across) Milky Way star cloud that matches JH's description ("Cl VII. class; much more than fills field; a very L and rich milky way cl, quite insulated on the prec, n, and foll sides, and nearly so to the S; forming a kind of peninsular projection, but much richer than the main body of the milky way."). I've adopted this identification.

===== NGC 5299 14" (4/5/16 - Coonabarabran, 71x): the most noticeable grouping is a large, scattered Milky Way field with ~150 stars in a 12' region. The brightest star is the variable VX Centauri, at 9th magnitude. Just off the northwest side is a distinctive 2.5' string of 4 stars (three of these are mag 10.5) oriented NW-SE. A few arcmin west of the main group is another detached collection (most in an elongated N-S stream, along with several more in a smaller N-S string further west). The N-S group includes a mag 9.8 star and the smaller string includes mag 9.2 HD 120131 on the south end. Combining the various subgroups together produces a 20' Milky Way field that stands out reasonably well.