Lewis Swift discovered IC 4913 = Sw. XI-185 on 6 Jul 1897 and reported "eeeF; pS; 3 st s[outh] like belt of Orion point to it; eee diff[icult]." His position is 1 minute of RA too far west and nearly 2' too far south. Howe reexamined the field in 1899, measured an accurate position, and noted "The three stars mentioned by Swift are of mags 9.5, 10 and 9, and are about 8' south of the nebula. Their line prolonged does not strike the nebula, but follows a little." Dreyer incorporated Howe's comments in the IC description.

600/800mm - 24" (9/6/18): at 260x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, 0.5'x0.4', gradual weak concentration to the center. There was a strong impression of a low surface brightness halo extending ~0.9'x0.7'. Located 13' S of mag 7.8 HD 188476.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb