Joseph Turner discovered IC 2163 on 15 Dec 1878 with the 48" Melbourne Telescope during an observation of NGC 2207. He wrote, "It appears to consist of two nebulae" and his sketch clearly shows IC 2163 elongated E-W as a separate object to the east. He noted "the preceding one NGC 2207] seems to have three distinct nuclei or perhaps three small stars as represented above [in sketch]." The discovery is on page 196 of his logbook, but was not included in the unpublished list of 6 new nebulae written in at the end of his logbook, as it was probably considered part of NGC 2207.

Pietro Baracchi also sketched the pair on 4 Jan 1886 with the Melbourne scope. He shows IC 2163 as very extended E-W, indicating the spiral arms was seen extending east.

Herbert Howe rediscovered IC 2163 = Ho I-7 on 11 Feb 1898 with the 20-inch Clark refractor at Chamberlin Observatory in Colorado. He noted "eF, pS, follows NGC 2207 [by] 7 seconds." Howe is credited with the discovery in the IC. The IC2 Notes mentions "binuclear, surrounded by faint trace of ring". This comment is based on a plate taken by DeLisle Stewart at Harvard's Arequipa station (date unknown).

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/28/84): this is a colliding system with NGC 2207. A double nucleus is visible and an extension just seen to the east is probably IC 2163.

400/500mm - 18" (2/5/11): forms the eastern component of an impressive interacting pair with NGC 2207. At 225x, IC 2163 is an elongated glow embedded on the east side of the halo of the brighter galaxy. IC 2163 appears fairly faint, moderately large, oval E-W, 1.0'x0.7', weakly concentrated.

900/1200mm - 48" (2/20/12 and 2/28/19): IC 2163 was stunning at 488x, attached at the east side of NGC 2207. The central region is very bright, round, ~1' diameter, small bright core. A prominent spiral arms is attached on the southwest side and sweeps gracefully to the east, curving gently clockwise. The arm is ~1.5' long and significantly increased the overall size to roughly 2'x1'.

Just NE off the tip of the eastern arm is 2MASX J06163579-2122032, which appeared as a faint, very small knot. Although this galaxy does not have a measured redshift, an HST study of NGC 2207/IC2163 (2001AJ....121..182E) found several apparent old globular clusters in its outer regions suggesting it's a dwarf elliptical galaxy at the same distance as IC 2163.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb