Harold Corwin

IC 5067, 5068, and 5070 are three of the seven nebulae found by The Reverend Thomas Espin in 1899 and announced in AN No. 3633, 1900. These three are all in Cygnus near the "North American Nebula" (NGC 7000, which see) and may be part of the same complex of reflection nebulae. At least IC 5068 and IC 5070 are parts of the splendid "Pelican Nebula." I suspect that IC 5067 is a third part.

Espin's position for IC 5067 falls on a nondescript area of sky with nothing obviously eyecatching that might be his object. IC 5068, however, is apparently a large (35 arcmin by 25 arcmin), diamond-shaped patch of nebulosity centered about 35 seconds east and 4 arcmin south of Espin's place. His position, though, is still well within the nebulosity (the brightest patch of this nebulosity is at 20 49 19, +42 26.1 for B1950.0). For IC 5070, Espin's position falls very close to the brightest strands of the nebulosity.

This makes me suspect that he actually saw the large (35 arcmin by 18 arcmin) patch of nebulosity to the northwest of IC 5068. Its RA is 16 seconds off Espin's for I5067, but the declination is 1 deg, 25 arcmin south of his nominal declination. As with IC 5068, its brightest patch is off the center at 20 45 19, +42 47.4 for B1950.0.

The relative brightnesses of the three nebulae, however, matches Espin's descriptions: "faint" for IC 5067, "very faint" for IC 5068, and "faint and diffused" for IC 5070. These words, by the way, are all that Espin has to say about the nebulae aside from their positions and discovery dates. Had he given us some indication of their sizes, we might be able to better pin them down.

So, I've tentatively identified IC 5067 with the nebulosity northwest of IC 5068. This may not be correct, but there is nothing else in the area that fits as well.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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