NGC/IC Project Restoration Effort

===== NGC 7638 = IC 1483 and NGC 7639 = IC 1485 are two nebulae discovered by Ainslie Common with his 36-inch reflector. They are mentioned only in his discriptive note for NGC 7630, presumeably found the same night: "There are 2 similar nebulae within 30' sf No. 32 [N7630]." Even though the position of N7630 is coarsely given (23 15, +10 47 for 1880), its identity is fortunately clear. We are also fortunate that the only two galaxies bright enough for Common to have easily seen "within 30' sf" are the only two candidates there are in that part of the sky. The identities are therefore very secure, even if the NGC positions (worked out by Dreyer for lack of anything better, and marked with plus-minus signs) are far off. The poor positions led Javelle to think these two nebulae "novae" when he went over the field in the early 1890's. So, they (and a third nearby, IC 1484) received IC numbers as well.

===== NGC 7638 17.5" (9/7/96): very faint, small, round, 30" diameter, low even surface brightness. Located 8' N of mag 8.3 SAO 108572. A wide pair of mag 11/13 stars is 1.5' S. First in faint group with IC 1484 and IC 1485 = NGC 7639 (uncertain ID). IC 1484 is extremely faint and small, round.