Harold Corwin

IC 6 is the 89th object in Truman Safford's list of 106 nebulae published in the Annual Report of the Dearborn Observatory for 1885 and 1886. These were found in 1866-68 by Safford and A. N. Skinner (five objects). Dreyer identified 59 of the objects as occuring in the NGC, and listed the remaining 47 new objects in an appendix to the NGC. However, when compiling the first IC, Dreyer decided to include these 47 as IC objects, "... as very few people ever think of referring to an appendix."

In this case, Dreyer assigned Safford's object to IC 8. However, Courtney Seligman points out that Safford's position is much closer to IC 6 than to IC 8, and that IC 6 is a magnitude brighter than IC 8. It is virtually certain therefore, that Safford discovered IC 8 rather than IC 6. Javelle's observations of both IC 6 and IC 8 came along a quarter of a century later; his positions are good, so there is no problem with their identifications. Only Dreyer's misassignment of Safford's object needs correction.

― 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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