Lewis Swift discovered IC 701 = Sw. VIII-57 on 22 Apr 1889 and recorded "eF; vS; R; 2 pB stars south following."

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/12): at 488x, IC 701 = Arp 197 appeared fairly bright, oval 2:1 WNW-ESE, 0.6'x0.3', contains a small bright core. A very low surface brightness hazy plume extends to the NE about 30". Occasionally VV 3b, an extremely faint hazy spot, was glimpsed at the northeast tip of the tail. In Arp's class "galaxies with material ejected from nuclei". CGCG 126-073, a thin edge-on described by Arp as a shred of IC 701, lies 2.5' SSW. It appeared as a faint, extremely thin streak, 8:1 WNW-ESE, ~40"x5", fairly low surface brightness. Situated very close west of a mag 13-14 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb