Lewis Swift discovered IC 817 = Sw. VII-26, along with IC 816, on 5 May 1888 and reported "eeF; vS; R; sf of 2 [with IC 816]. Although his positions are pretty good, IC 817 is north-following of IC 816, not south-following as Swift stated. Corwin suggests that Swift may have mixed up his descriptions as this galaxy is the fainter one and has the wide pair to the northeast.

Schwassmann found this galaxy again on a Heidelberg plate taken 20 Feb 1900 and reported Sn. 149 (later IC 3764) as new. Schwassmann's position is also good, but the equivalence was not noticed.

600/800mm - 24" (5/24/20): at 375x; between faint and fairly faint, small, round, 24" diameter, slightly brighter nucleus. Visible continuously but fairly low surface brightness. Fainter of a pair with IC 816 2.7' WSW.

24" (6/3/19): at 322x; fairly faint, small, round, 24" diameter, contains a very small brighter core. Slightly smaller than similar IC 816 2.7' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb