Lewis Swift discovered IC 1420 = Sw. IX-97 on 18 Sep 1889 and recorded "eeF; pS; R; bet 2 nr F stars in meridian." His position is 19 sec of RA due west of UGC 11880 and his description is appropriate. Herbert Howe measured an accurate position around 1900 with the Clark refractor at Denver, though Dreyer didn't include the correction in the IC 2 Notes section.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/27/95): faint, small, elongated 3:2 E-W, 30"x20", broad very weak concentration with no distinct core. A mag 13.5 star lies 30" N of center. There appears to a brighter spot at the east end. This is a compact companion listed in NED as IC 1420 NED02 and in LEDA as PGC 93140.

600/800mm - 24" (9/27/14): at 375x I found the view of this object confusing. It appeared fairly faint to moderately bright, fairly small, generally oval E-W, ~30"x20" but sometimes it appeared elongated 2:1 at 40"x20". Sometimes a very compact nucleus (or companion) appeared as a brighter knot, just east of center. A mag 13.5 star is 0.6' N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb