AM 0517-250, a close double system, lies 2.5' SSE. The brighter northern component (ESO 486-053A = PGC 17114) appeared faint, small, round, 12" diameter, very faint stellar nucleus.

Lewis Swift discovered IC 2121 = Sw. XI-75 on 26 Dec 1897 and recorded "eeeF; S; R; 7m * 15s p[receding] obliterates it; eee diff." There is nothing at his position but 30 seconds of RA east and 1.5' N is ESO 486-053 and this galaxy matches his description of the nearby bright star 15 seconds of RA west. In his survey of NGC/IC objects at the turn of the century, Howe measured an accurate position (used in the IC) and gave a more accurate offset for the bright star. Swift might have found this galaxy again on 2 Feb 1889 while on a visit to Barnard at Lick Observatory. See IC 408 for that story.

600/800mm - 24" (2/13/18): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 NNW-SSE, 30"x20", very small brighter nucleus, only a very small halo was visible, though occasionally the galaxy elongated into a 2:1 ratio. Located 4.8' NE of mag 7.0. The star was distracting so the best view was by placing it outside the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb