Harold Corwin

IC 5097 is probably the quadruple star I've listed in the table. Bigourdan has only a single estimated position: position angle = 140 degrees, distance = 3 arcmin from NGC 7045 (which is a double star; see that for more). Since there are many stars in the area, I'm not sure which object he actually saw. However, the quadruple is certainly an obvious choice.

Malcolm, however, takes a double star (the western star is very faint) closer to Bigourdan's nominal position. I don't think this is the correct object but we would need an eyepiece observation to be able to better interpret Bigourdan's observation. And had he specified the distance to a tenth of an arcminute, I might be more inclined to take the position literally. As is, the position is crude, and we have some leeway to choose a more nebulous- looking asterism. Again, the four stars I've chosen strike me as a more obvious choice, but we really do need a telescopic inspection.

― IC Notes by Harold Corwin

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