NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6208. As with NGC 6204 (which see), JH found this cluster on two nights, 8 July 1834 and 19 June 1835. And like the other cluster, his positions are significantly different. Here, however, his descriptions are also different: 8 July 1834: A pretty insulated milky way cluster, class VII. of large stars; 8' diam; sts 9....12 m. 19 June 1835: Cluster, class VII.; rich; not m comp M; more than fills field. Stars 11....14 m, but chiefly small. I think that his descriptions can be reconciled if the July 1834 observation refers only to the core of the cluster where most of the brighter stars are found, while the June 1835 observation includes the cluster's fainter peripheral stars. Finally, looking at the field, there is clearly an error of -10 arcminutes in JH's position from the June 1835 sweep, as that position falls south of the southern edge of the cluster. Corrected to be 10 arcminutes north, it lands near the cluster's center.

===== NGC 6208 18" (7/9/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): best at 76x with 27 Panoptic. Appeared as a 10' cloud of mostly fainter stars which blends into the surrounding field with many stars arranged in an elongated, curving shape. Includes one mag 10 star on the south side while the majority are 12-13th magnitude.