Harold Corwin

IC 2171 may be NGC 2283. This matches Barnard's note of "3 sts 10 around," if not his position. But the position, especially the RA, is only crudely given in the IC. Unfortunately, this is one of the many objects apparently sent directly to Dreyer; there is no reference to it in any of Barnard's articles that Dreyer cites. So, what we see in the IC is all there is to go on.

There is thus also the possibility that Barnard's object is MCG -03-18-001. This is closer to Barnard's position, but the galaxy is fainter, and the three stars are not as obvious (though the low-latitude field is rich).

A much more remote possibility is that the object is a flare or reflection from Sirius which has virtually the same RA as Barnard's object. But Barnard was an experienced observer, so this is very unlikely.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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