NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 7438. JH describes this as "A large oblong cluster which fills two fields. Place that of the double star h. 3157 of my fifth Catal." DSS and POSS show a cloud of stars, elongated southwest to northeast, more compressed on the southwestern end into two apparent clusters separated by about 10 arcmin. Though well-defined on that end, it is very poorly defined on the northeastern side. The overall dimensions are roughly 30 arcmin by 10 arcmin. I doubt that the entire group is a cluster, though the southeastern-most two clumps might well be. Those portions of JH's object could stand out well in even small telescopes since the stars are fairly bright, 9th to 11th magnitudes. ----- In one-degree DSS and DSS2 images centered on JH's position, the cloud of stars seems to break up into three discrete clumps, not just two. There are absorption patches and streaks all across the field, and these serve to define the separate "clusters" as much as the distribution of stars. I'm even less convinced now that all this represents a real cluster. Nevertheless, I'm giving the positions and sizes of the three clumps as hopefully representing what JH saw on that night in November 1831. Note that the clump I previously named "NGC 7438 ne" is now named "NGC 7438 m", and "NGC 7438 ne" is a "new" clump on to the northeast.

===== NGC 7438 17.5" (8/13/96): at 100x, there is a 20' elongated group of stars separated into two distinct scattered subgroups. The SW group is circular, ~6' diameter with roughly three dozen stars total, although there are a dozen brighter mag 10/11 stars which form the circular outline. Only a few faint stars populate the interior of the outline. The NE group is more elongated, ~7'x5', with two dozen stars. It includes a nice well-matched mag 11 pair at 15" separation. The two groups only stand out in a rich Milky Way field using a 20 Nagler but it still looks like a random grouping. Listed as nonexistent in Carlson and RNGC.