Forms a close pair with LEDA 1632295, just 45" SW of center. It appeared very faint, very small, ~6" diameter, elongated NW-SE. This small galaxy forms a 5" or 6" pair with a mag 17.6 star and they were not resolved in soft seeing.

Lewis Swift discovered IC 867 = Sw. VIII-70 on 22 Apr 1889 and recorded "eeF; pS; R; 3rd of 5." He also noted in his description of IC 870 that "4 pB st. in a curve sf points to the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th." His position is 1.3' S of UGC 8353, but this galaxy is roughly collinear with IC 868 and 870 (4th and 5th), so the identification is certain. Javelle independently discovered the group on 11 Jun 1891 and measured pretty accurate positions that were used in the IC.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/21/17): at 488x; fairly bright, round, moderately large , ~0.8' diameter. Contains a faint stellar nucleus embedded in an elongated core or bar oriented NW-SE. This is the largest galaxy in the group (WBL 438 = RSCG 69), although the halo has a very low surface brightness. IC 866 lies 3.3' N, IC 868 is 2.6' SE and IC 870 is 3.5' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb