Harold Corwin

IC 1911 either does not exist, or is a star with a faint companion about 30 arcsec to the northwest. Bigourdan has one estimated position for the object in his Appendix of Supplemental Observations; he described it there as a "Trace of nebulosity, suspected only" from a single night in 1887. In the Comptes Rendu list where he announced his discovery, he adds "Sky mediocre."

There is nothing in his position, a fact noted by Bigourdan himself during a second observation in 1902. He did note two stars near his position and gave estimated offsets for them -- they are indeed there. Is it possible that he mistook the fainter of them with its companion as nebulous on his relatively poor night in 1887? I've put it into the position table with a question mark. The brighter star is at 03 17 41.61, +35 08 43.0 (B1950) measured using Skyview and a DSS cutout.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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