DeLisle Stewart discovered IC 1641 = D.S. 143 photographically on 27 Nov 1900 at Harvard's station in Arequipa, Peru. He simply noted "eF, eS, R." IC 1641 has been misidentified as a very faint cluster (Hodge-Wright 62) just following NGC 422. But in 2014 Harold Corwin found that NGC 422 is a duplicate observation of NGC 411 (see notes on NGC 422), so IC 1641 should apply to the cluster formerly known as NGC 422. See Corwin's notes for more.

400/500mm - 18" (7/11/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): very faint, small, 30" diameter, low surface brightness and no hint of resolution. Follows NGC 411 by 7' and forms the eastern vertex of an equilateral triangle with NGC 411 and a mag 8 star 6' SW. Observation made through thin haze.

18" (7/6/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this faint SMC cluster is located 7' following NGC 411. At 228x it appeared as just a very faint knot, less than 1' diameter with a low surface brightness and no resolution. Located 5.5' NE of mag 8.6 HD 7031.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb