E.E. Barnard discovered IC 1802, along with IC 1803 and 1804, on 29 Oct 1888 using the 12-inch refractor at Lick Observatory. His notebook sketch clearly identifies the trio, with IC 1802 = CGCG 483-067 = PGC 9462, although his computed position (sent directly to Dreyer) is poor 33 seconds of time too small and 2.2' too far north. He noted "the p[receding] of 3. 1' s.f. 11m star."

His poor position for IC 1803, though, happens to fall closer to IC 1802 and PGC, RC3 and HyperLeda (as well as secondary sources such as Uranometria 2000.0 Sky Atlas and Megastar) misidentify IC 1802 as IC 1803. NED has the correct position as Harold Corwin correctly identified this galaxy.

600/800mm - 24" (1/1/16): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, round, 30" diameter, very small bright core. A mag 12 star is 1' NW. A faint companion (PGC 1681200) 45" ENE of center was not noticed. First in a group with IC 1803 and 1804 ~9' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb