Andrew Cooper
Aug 11, 2018    Kaʻohe, Mauna Kea, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 233x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A faint patch of haze with one notable star resolved, about 1' across, easy to see why this was catalogued

Harold Corwin

NGC 6082 may be IC 4597. If so, John Herschel's position is 2 minutes of time too small, and 8 arcmin too far north. In SGC, I made the object identical with five faint stars. Now, 20 years later, I do not see any obvious asterism of five stars near John Herschel's place unless it is the asterism at 16 15 27.6, -34 13 57 (2000). Wolfgang chose a double star 4 seconds of time on east.

John Herschel's description is copied accurately into NGC (in CGH, he says "25 arcsec" rather than "S") and the declination is appropriate for the sweep. He records the clock time with the object leaving the field -- if the object was in fact measured with wire 2, then the RA would be 36.4 seconds less, and if wire 2, then 1 minute 8.6 seconds less. There is nothing matching John Herschel's description at either of these positions. Finally, re-reducing his position with one of the known stars in the field, k Sco, the position is close to the one that John Herschel himself reduced. So, no apparent errors exist in his observation.

All in all, this one is a bit of a mystery.

― NGC Notes by Harold Corwin

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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