NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6419, 6420, 6422, and 6423. These were found by Lewis Swift on the nights of 1 and 17 August 1883. Because he recorded only two objects each night, I have a suspicion that he saw the same two twice. If so, N6419 = N6423, and N6420 = N6422. His descriptions are similar enough that this is a distinct possibility. Here is what he had to say about his objects: No. NGC Disc. Date RA (1885) Dec Desc 55 6419 1883 Aug 17 17 36 20 +68 13 35 eeF, eS, R, e diff; n of 2 56 6420 " 17 36 20 +68 06 50 eeF, eS, R, ee diff; s of 2 57 6422 1883 Aug 01 17 36 40 +68 07 20 eF, pS, R; nearly bet a F and a B * 58 6423 " 17 37 10 +68 13 20 eeF, vS, R; * nr east; v diff If he did in fact see only the two brightest in the field, then they would be CGCG 321-024 and CGCG 321-026. However, Bigourdan measured the four brightest galaxies in the field (there are at least six others brighter than about B = 16 nearby), and assigned the NGC numbers to them in RA order. This has the advantage of dishing out one number per galaxy, and of closely matching Swift's declinations. Swift's RAs, however, are too small by varying amounts (13 to 24 seconds of time). Also, if Bigourdan's suggested identifications are correct, then Swift's note of a "* near east" of N6423 should read, "* near north." Since Dreyer published Bigourdan's corrected positions (close to the real ones) in the IC2 notes, I'm going to provisionally accept Bigourdan's suggested identities, in spite of my reservations above -- and with colons flagging the uncertainties in this crowded field.

===== NGC 6419 17.5" (6/11/88): very faint, very small, elongated NW-SE, bright core. Two mag 15 stars are close north (one is 43" NNW of center). In a group of 6 galaxies with NGC 6423 4.5' ENE, NGC 6420 6.3' S, NGC 6422 6.2' SSE and CGCG 321-023 = PGC 60529 5.4' SW (see description under NGC 6422).