IC 1296 is a real challenge object and those back East have tussled with it lately, calling it impossible or glimpsed in very large aperture in good seeing only. Dave Kriege sees it with a video camera but not visually in his 25". Arizona clear dark skies help a lot. Bill Ferris sees it in his 18" at 7000 ft. Both Peter and I saw it in our 25 and 20" scopes Sat night at Antenna site. Steve Coe saw it immediately in my scope before any of us eventually got a handle on it, but I don't know if he was kidding or not. He centered it and described it, like it was a piece of cake. It may be that he has tracked it down in the past and knew what to look for. IC 1296 is 4' WNW of M57 (p.a. 303). Argo Navis reports it as 15.1 with a surface brightness of 15.2. Luginbuhl & Skiff (p 165) has it at mag 'z' 15.4 (taken from CGCG). Megastar shows it as 14.8 (p). Uranometria doesn't show it inthe first edition, but the 2nd edition shows it as a pimple on the edge of M57. It is not in the SAC database. It has a very easily recognizable asterism to help confirm it: it is inside a hexagon of stars with a star in the center right next to it, so the location can be positively known. It's just a matter of waiting (camping), and then you either see it or you don't. Jack -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.