Lewis Swift discovered IC 1276 = Sw. VIII-95 on 10 Apr 1889 and recorded "eeeF; vL; ee diff; D* close to p edge; very wide D* nr north." George Abell found it again in 1952 on the POSS (published in the 1955 paper "Globular Clusters and Planetary Nebulae Discovered on the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey") and missed the equivalence with globular #7. So, IC 1276 is also known as Palomar 7.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/97): at 220x, this globular appears as an obvious irregular glow of ~3' diameter with a mag 13.5 star at the west edge. A superimposed mag 14 star follows [by 36"] and a third mag 14.5 on a line is at the east end. A mag 15 star was also glimpsed along this string close following the mag 14 star. Appears elongated ~E-W and the irregular outline increases in size with averted vision to 4'x3'. This faint globular has an unusual mottled patchy appearance although the observed stars may be field stars.

17.5" (7/27/95): at 220x appears faint, moderately large, 3' irregular scraggly outline. No resolution although has an irregular surface brightness. There is a mag 13 star at the west end, closely followed by a mag 14.5 star. A similar faint star is situated at the east end. Located 3' SSW of a mag 11 star.

17.5" (7/4/86): at 105x appears as a faint glow with no central condensation. Two stars mag 13-14 are on the west side. At 286x the cluster seems to extend mostly east of the following of the two stars. Located 3' SSW of a mag 11 star.

600/800mm - 24" (9/7/13): at 200x appeared as a fairly faint to moderately bright, roundish glow, ~3' diameter, with a weak concentration. Grows in size with averted vision to at least 3.5' diameter. At 375x, a total of 8-10 stars were resolved and a couple more occasionally popped. The brightest is a mag 13-13.5 star on the west side and a mag 14 star 35" to its east. A few additional stars appear to be ~15-15.5 magnitude with the remainder closer to 16th magnitude. A mag 10.6 star is 3' NNE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb