Lewis Swift discovered IC 5304 = Sw. XII-44 on 26 Jul 1897 and recorded "extremely faint, S, round, 3 or 4 F st nr sp [south-preceding]." There is nothing at his position but 40 seconds of RA east and 2.3' N is MCG -02-59-011 = PGC 71028. His position is poor enough that it possibly refers to IC 1479, which is 34 seconds of RA east and 6' S of his position. Because of the better match in declination, PGC 71028 is a more likely identification.

600/800mm - 24" (9/22/17): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S, 40"x30", small bright core increases to a very small bright nucleus. Fairly similar in size and surface brightness to IC 1479 8.6' SSW. A 13th mag star is 1.6' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb