Harold Corwin

IC 1096 is one of three galaxies interspersed with several stars, one rather bright. Another of the galaxies is IC 1097, about which there are no identification problems. IC 1096 is usually taken as the brightest of the three.

However, Javelle's single observation on 20 July 1892 points directly to the faintest of the three galaxies. He made an observation of IC 1097 a few minutes later on the same night using the same comparison star. That observation points directly at the second-brightest galaxy. So, there is no mistaking the objects that Javelle saw.

How did he miss the brightest galaxy? Perhaps it has a lower surface brightness, or perhaps it has a stellar nucleus. Perhaps he did see it, but did not have time to measure it. Whatever happened, we can put IC numbers on only two of the three galaxies -- but not on the brightest one.

Looking at the field again in October 2018, I was immediately struck by the relatively bright star just west, BD +19 2828 -- this was Javelle's comparison star for the two galaxies he measured. With a V magnitude of 10.4, this would have been a significant object in the field with the galaxies. Another somewhat fainter star (V = 11.3) is about the same distance northwest of IC 1097 and may have caused further interference with Javelle's observations.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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