Lewis Swift discovered IC 1783 = Sw. XI-35 on 29 Dec 1897 and recorded "vF; vS; eE; nearly 0°; F * p." His position is fairly poor, but the identification is certain based on his description. Swift originally included it in his third list of new nebulae from Lowe Observatory and gave the discovery date as 4 Sep 1787 with a less detailed description ("very faint, small, vE, one * nr.") and it was given in his fourth list with date 29 Sep 1897! Delisle Stewart also found it on an Arequipa plate taken in 1899. He described it as "cB, cL, vmE at 0°, cbM."

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/94): faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SSW-NNE, 1.5'x0.7', broad concentration. A mag 13 star is 1.8' WSW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb