NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6551 refers to an object found by Leavenworth in July of 1885. He has left us a vivid sketch showing what looks like a globular cluster placed exactly between two moderately bright stars. The position on the sketch cover matches that published in the AJ list (18 02, -29 34 for equinox 1890), but there is nothing in the area that matches the sketch. The only other notes on the sketch besides the position and Leavenworth's initials read, "Drawn July 6 from sketch July 7 '85. Power 500+-." The dates are not mistakes -- the date "drawn" really does precede the date "sketched." One must be wrong. Andris and Wolfgang have taken N6551 to be the asterism of half a dozen stars near Leavenworth's position. But they do not match his sketch at all. The nearest globular cluster is NGC 6522, and while that might be seen as "vF, vS, R, rr" at -29 degrees from Leander McCormick, the stars flanking it do not correspond with those shown on the sketch. The next closest cluster is NGC 6528; its flanking stars are a considerable distance from the cluster, and there are enough others in the field to make me wonder why Leavenworth sketched in just two. Other globulars that might fit are NGC 6293, 6453, and 6624 (all seen through rich fields), though the flanking stars are conjectural for some of these clusters. I also checked some of the fainter and smaller clusters (e.g. the Terzan clusters) using positions from Bill Harris's on-line cluster list (http://physwww.physics.mcmaster.ca/~harris/mwgc.dat). None seemed reasonable aside from Terzan 5 -- but again, the flanking stars have to be moved on the diagram to match the sky. My own guess, after some digging around on this again in January 2016, is that Leavenworth saw NGC 6528. Its declination is just thirty arcminutes south, and the RA is 4 minutes west of Leavenworth's position. NGC 6522 is another strong possibility, so I've put NGC 6551's number on both objects -- with the requisite question marks, of course. So, another mysterious L-M object with no definite identification.