E.E. Barnard discovered IC 1220 = Sw. X-34 on 18 May 1890 with the 12-inch refractor at Lick Observatory. He simply noted "pF, S", but his offsets from mag 7.7 HD 148591 of +50 seconds in RA and ~+2.8' in Dec point directly to this galaxy. Lewis Swift independently discovered this object just 2 months later on 21 Jul 1890 and recorded "eeF; pS; E." His position is 15 seconds of RA too small, though the IC position is off by an additional 10 seconds of RA. Swift is credited with the discovery in the IC as Barnard never published his discovery or informed Dreyer. CGCG (052-030) and MCG (+01-42-005) don't label their catalogue entries as IC 1220.

600/800mm - 24" (7/18/17): fairly faint, fairly small, round, small bright core, ~24" diameter. Located 12.5' ENE of mag 7.7 HD 148591. Brightest in a trio with CGCG 052-028 5.5' SW and LEDA 3091631 3.6' SSE. Also nearby are UGC 10414 12' N and UGC 10416 15' NE.

CGCG 052-028 appeared very faint, small, probably elongated 2:1 N-S, ~20"x10", very small core and sharp stellar nucleus. A 14th mag star is off the NW edge [23" from center]. LEDA 3091631 was just a very small, faint glow, 10" diameter. A mag 12.5 star is 1' E. UGC 10414 was faint, fairly small, round, 24" diameter, low even surface brightness. Between a mag 13 star 1.7' N and a mag 14 star 1.3' S. UGC 10416 was faint to fairly faint, fairly small, roundish, 0.5'x0.4'. Situated in the exact center of an isosceles triangle of 3 mag 11 stars 2.8' NNW, 2.9' SSW and 3.2' ESE. The latter galaxy was actually discovered by E.E. Barnard but never published or reported to Dreyer, so it didn't receive an IC designation.

24" (8/5/13): fairly faint, fairly small, round. Well concentrated with a 15" bright core that gradually increases to an occasional very faint stellar nucleus. The core is surrounded by a thin low surface brightness halo ~24" diameter. Situated 12.5' ENE of mag 7.7 HD 148591. CGCG 052-028 lies 5.5' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb