A lot of astronomical objects (and probably things in other sciences as well) are often named for the _last_ person to discover them. A classic example is in the same part of the sky as McNeil's Nebula: Barnard's Loop. It was first found by Bill Herschel _visually_ in the 1780s, then recovered by W.H. Pickering photographically, then finally by Barnard. Who pointed out the previous observations? Barnard himself, in an ApJ paper with some wide-field photography. So of course it got named for him! \Brian -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.