Sherburne Burnham discovered IC 4791 visually on 4 Jun 1889 with the 36-inch Lick refractor. Burnham measured micrometric offsets from the nearby bright star (Lalande 35032 = HD 174262) in 1899 at Yerkes (Publ of Yerkes Obs, Vol 1, p296).

On the DSS, this object appears to be a fairly bright compact galaxy (confirmed by Brian Skiff on POSS 2), though it is not listed in any modern catalogue except for LEDA 1588608. The IC description "Neb;* 6 f 2’" should read "* 6 p 2’".

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/97): this galaxy is located just 2.0' following a mag 6 star (HD 174262) and the view is severely hampered by the bright star! At 220x, this object is visible as a very faint and small, round disc, ~15" in diameter. A better view was at 420x with the 4.8 Nagler where the unconcentrated galaxy is well separated from the bright star. When the bright star exited the field the galaxy was quite easy to view due to its relatively high surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb