Sherburne Wesley Burnham discovered IC 304, along with IC 305, while searching for double stars on 12 Sep 1890 with the 36-inch refractor at Lick Observatory. The micrometric position (measured by Barnard) is accurate.

600/800mm - 24" (1/1/16): at 375x; fairly faint, elongated ~5:3 SSW-NNE, ~25"x15", slightly brighter nucleus. A mag 14 star is 30" SE and a mag 13 star is 1.2' SE. Forms a pair with IC 305 1.4' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb