NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 6581 = IC 1280. The position that Stephan quotes for his comparison star is off by about 15 seconds of time, so the NGC position for the galaxy is also off by the same amount. Digging into the data a bit more suggests that there is an additional 2 second error in Stephan's RA, but his description "... between two very small stars" is exactly right. Bigourdan, of course, could not find N6581 at its catalogued position, but rediscovered it at its true position. Thinking it was a "nova," he included it in his third list of new nebulae. He saw it only on one night, and commented then that it is "Impossible to measure, because I cannot easily distinguish it from 2-3 vF neighboring stars." His position is therefore based on a single estimate from the same star that Stephan used, and points to the same galaxy.

===== NGC 6581 17.5" (7/1/89): faint, small, round. A mag 14.5 star is at the NE end and a mag 15 star at the south end. Image confused by these two close faint stars. A wide pair of stars is 12' SW. Located in the UGC 11156 group and incorrectly identified as UGC 11155 in the RNGC.