Lewis Swift discovered NGC 1038 = Sw. III-16 = Sw. V-34 on 17 Oct 1885 with the 16-inch refractor at the Warner Observatory and "discovered" it again on 2 Oct 1886, recording it in his 5th discovery list. Dreyer combined both entries in the NGC. Swift's position is accurate.

William Herschel made an observation on 1 Jan 1786 (sweep 505) and noted "suspected, may be 2 small close stars in the parallel." Apparently he never confirmed the observation so it was not catalogued. His position (Caroline's reduction) is less that 1' northwest of UGC 2158, so he clearly "suspected" NGC 1038.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/26/94): fairly faint, fairly small, very elongated 3:1 SW-NE, 1.2'x0.4', bright core is moderately concentrated. Forms a pair with IC 1827 5.6' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb