Harold Corwin

IC 5216 is lost. Javelle found it on the night of 9 June 1896, and referred it to a 10th magnitude star at 22 17 20.2, -18 51.9 (1860.0). There is nothing at this position. In a footnote, Javelle says that he measured this position with respect to BD -18 6130. This is SAO 165097. Its 1860 position is 3m 8s following, and about 1 arcmin north of the nominal position of the missing comparison star. Searching at these offsets with other signs, I don't find any 10th magnitude stars.

Searching for a star-galaxy pair with Javelle's nominal offsets turned into a fruitless exercise, too. None of the (just three) galaxies within two degrees of his position has stars at those offsets.

A couple of peculiarities caught my eye with this entry in Javelle's third list. First, this is the only object he found and measured on the night of 9 June 1896; the local time would have been around 3AM. Almost all of his other June observations occur in the 11 to 14.5 hour zone where you might expect an evening observer to be working.

Second, this is the southern-most object in Javelle's third list by at least fifteen degrees. What was he doing up that late, and that far south of the equator? Perhaps observing a comet? Is IC 5216 actually the comet he was looking for? Speculation, sure, but Javelle measured SOMEthing.

Whatever happened, I have to conclude that he made some sort of gross error in his position or measurements for this object, or his object has moved away from the position he measured it in -- I cannot find IC 5216.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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