Harold Corwin

IC 319 is a star. There is a faint galaxy 45 arcsec south preceding that has been mistaken (by me, among others) as IC 319. However, Bigourdan's two micrometric measures of his nova (= Big 141) point precisely at the star. Furthermore, his description of the surrounding star field is exactly matched if the star is his reference object -- but not if the galaxy is the reference object.

Malcolm Thomson has also pointed out that the galaxy is probably too faint to have been seen by Bigourdan. In fact, there is another galaxy near a wide double star that Bigourdan measured in this field. This second galaxy is brighter and larger than the first, and Bigourdan makes no mention of the second. I presume that he did not see it, either.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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