Andrew Cooper
Sep 6, 2021    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 175x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Small, bright, a conspicuous grouping easily found while sweeping the rich galactic starfield, a 1' clump of three 9th magnitude stars at the center with a scatter of fainter stars surrounding

Harold Corwin

IC 4996 is an apparent cluster found by F. A. Bellamy on a 13-inch Oxford astrograph plate. His article is devoted to the measurement of positions and magnitudes of 103 stars in an area of about 15 arcmin across more or less centered on the cluster.

Unfortunately, Bellamy does not explicitely give a position for the cluster, and that given by Dreyer in IC2 is about 25 arcmin off in declination. Searching around the correct position, I found a clump of faint stars arrayed around a bright double or triple star a few arcmin north. This looks like only a random field clump to me -- the area is littered with dust patches and faint traces of nebulosity.

Nevertheless, I've included the clump in the position table as the "core" of Bellamy's object. If some of the bright stars that he gives in his table really do form a cluster, then the entire thing is about 17 arcmin across.

Those interested in seeing just what stars Bellamy measured will find his article in MN 64, 662, 1904.

It's also interesting to note -- as Wolfgang Steinicke first did in 2014 -- that William Herschel saw this cluster, though did not include it in his catalogues. For the story behind that, see the discussion in the "notngc" files. I will say here, though, that the triple star I noticed near the center of Bellamy's cluster was mentioned explicitly by William Herschel.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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