George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered IC 694 = Sw. 10A-3 on 27 Jan 1852. He described an "appendage about one object diameter northwest [of NGC 3690]." Lewis Swift apparently found this galaxy on 18 Apr 1892 and noted "vS, close D[ouble] with 3690, suspected with 132, verified with 200x. His position is -7 seconds of RA, +30'' of Dec with respect to NGC 3690, close to PGC 35325, an extremely faint and small galaxy 1.1' NW of the interacting double system NGC 3690.

Modern catalogues apply IC 694 to one component of the brighter double system. Despite the good match in position with PGC 35325, I feel it is more likely possible Swift saw the second component of NGC 3690, which is much more obvious in the eyepiece.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/1/95): this threshold object was barely glimpsed 1.1' NW of the interacting double system NGC 3690. It was just visible momentarily as an extremely small knot with averted vision but observation verified several times. This object is probably IC 694 although the identification is not 100% certain.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/12): IC 694, roughly 1' NW of the interacting pair NGC 3690, was easily visible as a fairly faint, slightly elongated glow, 15"x12", weak concentration.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb