Rev. Thomas Espin discovered IC 1310 on 19 Sep 1893 with his 17-inch reflector at his private observatory in England while sweeping for red stars. He simply recorded "faint nebulosity" Very close to his position is this faint cluster, which was independently catalogued as Berkeley 50.

Probably due to the IC description, Cederblad included IC 1310 in his list of bright nebulae as well as Beverly Lynds, although there is no nebulosity.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/97): picked up at 100x as a small nebulous patch in a rich Milky Way field surrounding a mag 13 star. It didn't stand out well at this power due to the rich environment but the glow had a noticeably higher surface brightness than the unresolved Milky Way glow. The view was improved at 220x; a faint sprinkling of stars are superimposed (8-10 with averted vision) and the 2' cluster has an irregular outline. Appears similar to a partially resolved globular. A nice mag 12/13 double star [9" separation] is off the NE end 1.5' from center. The view holds up well at 410x and one or two additional faint stars were resolved.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb