Stephane Javelle discovered IC 1901 = J. 3-974, along with IC 1900 and 1902, on 18 Jan 1898. He reported "F, R, 20" to 30", similar to IC 1900."

600/800mm - 24" (2/5/13): second brightest in the KTG 10 trio (differing opinion than last month) with IC 1900 and IC 1902. At 375x appeared fairly faint, small, elongated 24"x15" N-S, sharply concentrated with a bright quasi-stellar nucleus and very faint extensions. Located 2.9' SSE of IC 1900 and 2.4' ENE of a mag 10.3 star.

24" (1/12/13): faintest member of the KTG 10 trio with IC 1900 2.9' NNW and IC 1902 4.4' NNE. At 375x appeared faint, very small, elongated 2:1 ~N-S, 15"x8" (core region viewed), brighter nucleus. The galaxy has a similar surface brightness as IC 1900, but is smaller. A 1.2' pair of mag 10.3/11 stars lies ~3' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb