Stephane Javelle discovered IC 491 = J. 1-149 on 18 Mar 1892 and reported "very faint, very small, round, around 10" diameter."

600/800mm - 24" (3/28/17): at 260x and 520x; very faint to faint, small, round, 12" - 15" diameter, quasi-stellar or stellar nucleus. Situated within a N-S string of mag 9 to 10.5 star including a mag 10.2 star 1.5' NW. IC 491 forms a very close pair (non-physical) with PGC 1779405 0.5' NW. This 16th magnitude galaxy appeared extremely faint and small, 6" diameter, only occasionally pops. The nearby bright star makes the detection difficult.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb