Williamina Fleming discovered IC 424 = HN 56 on 27 Jun 1888 during a photographic survey of the M42 region at the Harvard College Observatory. Edward C. Pickering announced the discovery in the 1908 Harvard Annals publication and he is credited with the discovery in the IC. IC 423 was described as a "Nebula about 2' in diameter, brightest on the following side."

400/500mm - 18" (2/19/09): faint, fairly small reflection nebula, ~2' in diameter. Involving 4 or 5 stars with the two brightest at mag 13-14 forming a 35" pair oriented E-W. Located 3' NE of mag 8.3 HD 36683 and 25' ESE of mag 2.2 Mintaka (Delta Orionis). IC 423 (observed previously) is located 12' SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb