Lewis Swift discovered IC 1860 = Sw. XI-47, along with IC 1858 and 1859, on 5 Sep 1897. He reported "pF; pS; lE; 3rd of 3." His RA is 17 seconds too small. The position was corrected in Robert Baker's 1933 "Catalogue of 985 Extragalactic Nebulae in a Region in Fornax and Eridanus".

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/9/01): faint, fairly small, round, 30" diameter. Largest and brightest in a trio with IC 1858 8' SW and IC 1859 6.5' WNW in the core of the ACO S301 = Klemola 2 cluster. A mag 12.3 star is 1.7' NW.

600/800mm - 24" (11/23/19): at 375x; fairly faint, moderately large, oval 5:3 N-S, 50"x30", broad concentration, slightly brighter round core.

24" (12/6/18): at 260x; nearly moderately bright, slightly elongated N-S, 40" diameter, bright core. Brightest member of the cluster ACO S301 with IC 1859 6.4' W and IC 1858 8' SW. PGC 10725, situated 2.8' NE of IC 1860, appeared extremely faint and round, 12" diameter.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb