Lewis Swift discovered IC 866 = Sw. VIII-69 on 22 Apr 1889 and recorded "eeF; pS; R; 2nd of 5 [with IC 864, 867, 868, 870]." His position is 1.2' W of UGC 8354. Javelle independently discovered the group on 11 Jun 1891 (adding one additional galaxy) and measured pretty accurate positions that were used in the IC.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/21/17): at 488x; moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated, 20" diameter, weak core/nucleus. In this quick observation I didn't look for the low surface brightness arm to the southwest. A mag 15.8 star is 0.9' E. Second in a group of 7 IC galaxies (10 total) with IC 964 1.9' W. LEDA 1634204 lies 1.7' NW. Five of the galaxies (IC 866, 867, 868, 870, LEDA 1632104) are part of a physical group (WBL 438 = RSCG 69).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb