Lewis Swift discovered IC 1670 = Sw. XI-17 on 18 Dec 1895 and recorded "vF; pS; lE; wide D * near nf; f[ollowing] of 2 [with IC 1671]." There is nothing at his position, but 6' northwest is this double system. His comment "f of 2" should read "preceding of 2", which is consistent with his RA order.

400/500mm - 18" (11/13/07): IC 1670 consists of a contact pair of spiral galaxies. The brighter galaxy IC 1670B) on the east side appeared fairly faint, fairly small. At first glance I noticed a fairly high surface brightness knot ~20" in diameter but with careful viewing, faint extensions were seen oriented E-W, increasing the size to ~0.9'x0.3'. The initial knot I noticed is the sharply concentrated core of the galaxy. At the west edge is an attached companion, IC 1670A, just 1' between centers. IC 1670A appeared very faint, very small, round, just 0.2' diameter. Apparently I only viewed the core of this edge-on galaxy. Located ~3' SW of a mag 11 star. IC 93 lies 15' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb