Lewis Swift discovered IC 1531 = Sw. XII-1 on 24 May 1898, probably the last night he discovered new objects at Lowe Observatory. His position is 20 seconds of RA too far west, but accurate in RA and his description reads "vF, vS, R, unequal D * n." This pair is 12' due north.

600/800mm - 24" (9/7/18): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated 5:4 NW-SE, ~36"x28", increases to a small brighter core. Two mag 10.5 stars are roughly 11' NE and mag 9.3 HD 521 (a very wide unequal pair) is 12' due N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb