Harold Corwin

IC 1537 is the east-southeastern arm of NGC 55. It was first seen, described, and sketched by James Dunlop in the 1820s. John Herschel provided a more detailed description and sketch a decade later. Both clearly noted that the south- following end of the nebula was much fainter than the north-preceding, and their estimated sizes (note the typo in Dunlop's paper: in place of 25 arcsec, read 25 arcmin) include the whole galaxy, not just the brighter portion. Furthermore, the fainter following part is clearly shown in both published sketches.

In spite of these published observations, Swift claimed this part of NGC 55 as his own discovery: "As Sir John Herschel does not mark it [N55] with a sign as being a remarkable object, lends [sic] plausibility to the idea that it [IC 1537] was not seen even by him." And this after implying that Dunlop had certainly not seen the fainter eastern end.

Ahem.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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