Harold Corwin

IC 1396 is unmistakable in spite of the sparse description in the IC. This
may have been sent to Dreyer as a private communication; the IC gives no
reference aside from "Barnard." Nor is there a direct reference to it in
Barnard's Milky Way atlas, though he does discuss it quite a bit in his notes
to Plate 82 -- without, however, attaching the IC number to it.

The HII region itself is spectacular on the POSS1 prints, covering an area of
about 3 deg x 2 deg. It has a pretty low surface brightness, but is bright
enough that the many dark cometary globules superposed on it show up very
well. There is a cluster of stars near its center; I've used the position of
the brightest member (BD +56 2617 = SAO 033626) as that of the entire complex.
This is a wonderful object.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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