Isaac Roberts discovered IC 239 in 1893 and it was announced in MNRAS 54, 371 (1894), "Photograph of a 'New' Spiral Nebula in Perseus." He noted "the convolutions of the spiral is very faint, but clearly visible on the negative, and involved in them are four 14-15 mag stars and 6 or 7 stars, or star-like condensations, less bright than 16th mag. The convolutions are symmetrical, and proceed from a very faint star-like nucleus."

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/6/02): at 274x appeared faint, fairly large, slightly elongated ~N-S, ~3' diameter. The galaxy exhibited only a broad, weak concentration with no defined core. The halo faded at the edge and was ill defined. Situated between mag 8.6 SAO 55698 just off the south end 2.2' from center and a mag 9.6 star 3.3' N within a distinctive asterism of 5 brighter stars. Located ~45 due west of NGC 1023.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb