Harold Corwin

IC 4898 is lost. Swift describes it as "eeeF, eeS, eee dif sev F sts near". Close to Swift's position is a very faint triple star and -- even closer -- an even fainter double star. Given Swift's descriptions of the other nebulae that he found during 1897 and 1898 (12th and 13th magnitude galaxies appear as "eeF" in his lists), these stars (at 16th and 17th magnitudes) are too faint to be his nebula.

It's just possible that Swift's object is ESO 398-G027. It is the brightest galaxy in an area of over two degrees in any direction from his position. The galaxy is 3.0 minutes of time and 12.5 arcmin off Swift's place, and its magnitude is around B = 15 (unfortunately, it is on one of the few uncalibrated plates in the ESO-LV list, so has no magnitude there). This all makes it unlikely that this is Swift's object, but I've put it in the table with question marks, anyway.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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