Carl Frederick Pechüle discovered IC 4 on 12 Sep 1893 with an 11" refractor at the Copenhagen observatory, probably while searching for a comet. He reported "very faint, pretty round, 10"-12" diameter, perhaps even bigger, fairly even brightness." The IC position is 3' too far south, but there are no other nearby candidates.

600/800mm - 24" (9/16/17): at 260x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S, 35"x25". No significant concentration but contains a quasi-stellar nucleus with direct vision. Located 31' NW of NGC 57 in a star poor field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb