LEDA 1634204, situated just 1.4' NE, appeared extremely faint, very small, 8" diameter. Both IC 864 and LEDA 1634204 lie in the background of the IC group (WBL 438), with a light-travel time of 530-550 million years.

Lewis Swift probably discovered IC 864 = Sw. VIII-68 on 22 Apr 1889 and recorded "eeF; pS R; 1st of 5 [with IC 866, 867, 868 and 870]." His position is 2' SSE of LEDA 1633794 and 2' due south of his position for Sw. VIII-69 = IC 866. But these two galaxies are actually separated by 2' due E-W, so clearly an error was made or only a single galaxy was actually observed. In any case, Javelle independently discovered the group on 11 Jun 1891 (adding IC 869) and measured pretty accurate positions that were used in the IC. Although the identification of IC 864 is certain based on Javelle's position, HyperLeda doesn't recognize LEDA 1633794 as IC 864.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/21/17): at 488x; fairly faint to moderately bright, small, elongated 2:1 SSW-NNE, ~20"x10". First in a group of 7 IC galaxies with IC 866 1.9' E.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb