Harold Corwin

NGC 7815 is a single star, exactly at the position measured for it by Schultz. It is his "Nova XII" in his monograph of about 500 micrometrically measured nebulae. He comments, "Several fine stars seen in the neby? The object in the autumn of 1866 quite distinctly seen as a nebula with a stellar core; in the autumn of 1869, hardly visible!" I have to wonder if glare from the 9th magnitude star 2.3 arcminutes to the south had any influence on Schultz's observation.

He lists only two night's observations for the object, 2 and 3 October 1866. Neither night was good; the 2nd was "Extremely variable; soon clouding" and the 3rd was "Very damp; object-glass covered with moisture." Given those conditions, it doesn't surprise me that he thought the star nebulous. In fact, I am a bit surprised that he does not have more than just an even dozen "Novae".

Bigourdan, by the way, has this as two pretty-widely separated stars; his position, though, falls on Schultz's star.

― NGC Notes by Harold Corwin

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