Robert Innes discovered IC 1954 in 1898 with the 7-inch Merz refractor at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. His discovery position in MN, 59, p339 is 12 seconds of RA too large. DeLisle Stewart also found this galaxy on a plate taken on 14 Oct 1898 at Harvard's Arequipa Station.

600/800mm - 24" (4/5/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 260x this was a surprisingly bright and detailed IC galaxy that was missed by John Herschel! Appears elongated ~2:1 WSW-ENE, ~2.8'x1.4' with a broad concentration to a large, brighter core. With direct vision a small brighter nucleus was visible at the center. There was a strong impression of spiral structure with slightly enhanced arcs (probably portions of spiral arms) extending east of the core on the south side and west of the core on the north side (this is consistent with images of the galaxy).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb