Harold Corwin

IC 281 = NGC 1177. This is a clear case of oversight on Dreyer's part, as well as Swift's. The positions are very close, and the descriptions are also very similar. Dreyer himself made a measurement of NGC 1177 with Lord Rosse's 72-inch, so it surprises me a bit that he did not check Swift's observation more closely with the NGC. Whatever happened, the identity is sure.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

Harold Corwin

NGC 1177 = IC 281. NGC 1177 was found by Lord Rosse, and clearly measured by him with respect to NGC 1175. The NGC position is good, and Lord Rosse also mentions the brighter star 32 arcsec northeast of NGC 1177. However, this has not prevented Swift from claiming the galaxy as one of his discoveries, so it has an IC number as well as its original NGC number.

Bigourdan claimed to have found four "novae" in the field (NGC 1173, NGC 1176, NGC 1178, and NGC 1183; see NGC 1173 and NGC 1176 for more), but three are clearly stars (the fourth, NGC 1173, is missing, but I wonder if Bigourdan misidentified his comparison star for it; see NGC 1173 for more). In spite of his four "discoveries," Bigourdan had trouble seeing NGC 1177. He observed NGC 1175 on two nights, could not find NGC 1177 on the first of those, and saw it only vaguely on the second, commenting that the light of the brighter star mentioned by Lord Rosse prevented him from measuring it.

― NGC Notes by Harold Corwin

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