Lewis Swift discovered IC 5049 = Sw. XI-202 on 17 Sep 1897 and wrote "eeF; pS; R." His position is 30 seconds of time west and 4' south of a merged, double system, which Swift apparently didn't resolve. The components are called IC 5049A and 5049B in NED.

600/800mm - 24" (9/8/18): at 260x; fairly faint, fairly small, oval 3:2 NNW-SSE, ~40"x25". With careful viewing I noticed this was a double system with the halos merged [16" between centers]. Each component was no more 20" diameter. The NNW galaxy (IC 5049A) was more evident, though its total B magnitude (15.1) is fainter. These galaxies are the brightest members of the galaxy cluster ACO S897 (z = .041)

Notes by Steve Gottlieb