DeLisle Stewart discovered IC 1626 = DS 139 from a plate taken on 14 Dec 1903 at Harvard's Arequipa Station. He noted "vF, cS, R."

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): fairly faint, fairly small, irregularly round, 45"x35", fairly even glow. A couple of faint stars were resolved at the NW and SW edge. Two mag 11.5 stars lie 4' SW and mag 10.6 HD 6932 lies 8' NE. Hodge-Wright (HW) 52, a faint cluster, lies 5' NE. In addition, IC 1644 lies 14' NE and Lindsay 86 is located 9' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb