William Herschel discovered H II-815 on 26 Apr 1789 (sweep 929) and recorded "F, vS, stellar." Re-reducing his position with respect to either 82 UMa (his reference star) or NGC 4998 (the previous object in the sweep), lands 2' southwest - within his typical errors - of CGCG 271-017 = MCG +09-22-020 = PGC 45564.

When JH examined the field, he recorded a nova (h1542) at the position of UGC 8216, which lies 8.5' southwest of CGCG 271-017, and logged "pF; S; R; 8-10"." But when compiling the GC, he mistakenly decided h1542 was the same as his father's II-815 and combined both as GC 3424, using his position of h1542. The GC description, "vF; vS; stellar", was probably meant to read "pF; vS; stellar", a synthesis of both descriptions.

Since Dreyer followed the GC, we are left with NGC 4987 = h1542 = UGC 8216. Unfortunately, his father's H II-815 = CGCG 271-017 is left without a NGC designation. Both Harold Corwin and Wolfgang Steinicke agree with my analysis in an email exchange on 10 Jun 2014. See Harold Corwin's full write-up.

400/500mm - 18" (6/27/03): fairly faint, elongated 5:2 SW-NE, 0.9'x0.35'. Sharply concentrated with a fairly prominent 15" core. Located 8.5' N of mag 8.0 SAO 28644. MCG +09-22-020 lies 8.5' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb