Royal H. Frost discovered IC 4797 = F. 1158, along with IC 4796, on a plate taken 13 Aug 1903 at Harvard's Arequipa station. He noted "14 magn, bM, near edge of plate."

600/800mm - 30" (11/3/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): brighter of a pair with IC 4796 5.5' N. Appears bright, fairly large, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 1.8'x0.8', sharply concentrated with a very bright, high surface brightness core. A mag 13 star is to the north of the NW end, 1.4' NNW of center, and a fainter star is just 35" N of center. A mag 10 star lies 9' WNW, forming the western vertex of an isosceles triangle with IC 4796 and IC 4797.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb