Lewis Swift discovered IC 2040 = Sw. XI-67 on 23 Dec 1897 and recorded "vF; vS; R; resolv[ability] susp.; [NGC] 1531-2 in field." His RA is 40 seconds west of ESO 359-030, but there are no other galaxies nearby he might have picked up. He returned to the NGC 1531/1532 field 6 nights later and discovered IC 2041 a second time (the first observation is IC 2048). Knox-Shaw first suggested the equivalence of ESO 359-030 with IC 2040. He listed this galaxy in a table of new nebulae found between 1909-11 at the Helwan Observatory, but remarked that it was "possibly identical with [IC] 2040."

Arp-Madore (AM 0411-324) described this galaxy as a "High surface brightness irregular + peculiar absorption".

600/800mm - 24" (12/1/16): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated WSW-ENE, fairly high surface brightness, contains a very small bright nucleus. Located 23' NE of NGC 1532 and member of the NGC 1532 group (LGG 111).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb