Harold Corwin

Swift's original description reads "eeeF, vL, N6523 nr p, ee diff; B * inv or is a neb *; discovered 2 years ago." He gives a position of 18 02 26 -24 27.2 (precessed to 1950) which falls about 5 arcmin southeast of the star at 18 02 06.48, -24 24 10.9 (B1950.0, GSC). His position is still well within the brighter part of the nebulosity, but I have given a position that is much closer to the star and corresponds to the brightest part of the nebula to the east of M8 on the blue POSS and SSS prints/films (18 02 09, -24 24.9). If Swift meant to give the position of the star, it is well off, but not unreasonably so for him, especially given the size of the object.

This is not, by the way, = NGC 6526 = H V 9 That number applies to the much brighter southeastern portion of M 8 that curves around to the northeast to eventually encompass NGC 6530. See NGC 6526 for more.

Swift's note "... discovered 2 years ago" deserves a comment. John Herschel's sketch of M8 in the Cape of Good Hope Observations shows this entire area, including all of the nebulosity included in IC 1271, as well as Swift's star. So, I don't think that we can credit Swift with the discovery of this "object." John Herschel clearly regarded it as a part of the M8 complex, and we can now see on photographs that his interpretation was correct. Herbert Howe came to the same conclusion through visual examination of the field a few years after Swift's observation.

See NGC 6523, NGC 6526, and NGC 6533 for more discussion about the early observations of the M8 area.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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