Lewis Swift discovered IC 246 = Sw. VII-6 on 15 Oct 1887 and recorded "eeF; vS; R; triangle with 2 st.; eee diff." Swift was probably referring to two mag 10.5 stars 5' SW and 5' SSE. His RA was 22 seconds too small, though Herbert Howe corrected the RA based on a micrometric measure at the Denver observatory (repeated in IC 2).

600/800mm - 24" (12/6/18): at 375x; nearly in the fairly faint bin; small, round, 20"-24" diameter. Contains a very small brighter core and stellar nucleus. Forms the vertex of an isosceles triangle with a mag 10.8 star 5' SW and a mag 10.6 star 5' SE. A mag 15.1 star is just off the SW side. IC 244, a fainter galaxy, lies 22' NW. Member of the NGC 1016 group (USGC U137)

Notes by Steve Gottlieb