Lewis Swift discovered IC 1181 = Sw. VII-72, along with IC 1178, on 3 Jun 1888 and noted "eeeF; S; R. 12th of 12." His position is a good match with PGC 57063, the southeast component of douby system Arp 172. But Harold Corwin warns for IC 1178, "... the fact that he does not mention either object in his description of the other, casts some doubt on the identification." Gerard de Vaucouleurs called this galaxy IC 1181B in the "Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies" (RC1).

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/13/88): extremely faint and small, possibly elongated. Forms a very close pair 20" SE of IC 1178 in AGC 2151.

600/800mm - 24" (6/21/17): at 375x; faint, very small, round, 12" diameter [core of the galaxy only]. Fainter component of an interacting pair (Arp 172) with brighter IC 1178 30" NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb