The "bar" feature was verified afterwards on the DSS, which is surprising as the galaxy was very low in the sky.

William Henry Finlay discovered IC 5240 on 26 Dec 1886 with either the 6-inch or 7-inch equatorial refractor at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. Lewis Swift independently discovered the galaxy on 8 Aug 1897 and logged "pF; pL; R; faint star near sf." Finlay's discovery wasn't published until 1898 and he credited Swift in his table of nebulae (MNRAS 58, 329), though Dreyer listed Finlay first in the IC.

400/500mm - 18" (11/14/09): fairly faint, fairly small, bright core appears to contain a brightening or bar ~E-W, 1.0'x0.8'. Surrounding the core is a faint, small halo. Located 32' SSW of mag 6.1 HD 214987 and 2.1 degrees north of mag 2.1 Beta Gruis.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb