Pietro Baracchi discovered IC 4982 on 3 Sep 1885 while searching for NGC 6872 and 6876 in the Pavo-I cluster with the 48" Melbourne Telescope. Baracchi's sketch, which perfectly matches the field, displays IC 4982 and IC 4985 as small round nebulae along with a half dozen field stars. The discovery was never published.

DeLisle Stewart independently discovered IC 4982 = D.S. 665 on a plate taken at Harvard's Arequipa station on 21 Sep 1900. He noted "vF, bM." Stewart was credited with the discovery in the IC.

600/800mm - 30" (10/18/17 - OzSky): at 429x; faint to fairly faint, slightly elongated SW-NE, 20"x15". A close (interacting) companion (LEDA 270900) off the south edge was not noticed. Slightly fainter of a pair with IC 4985 2.3' NE. Probable member of the Pavo-I Group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb