Francis Leavenworth discovered NGC 1686 = LM 1-138 on 26 Dec 1885 with the 26" refractor at the Leander McCormick Observatory and described as "mag 15.5, vS, vE 30?." His rough position (nearest min of RA) is 1 tmin west of MCG -03-13-019 = PGC 16239 and his position angle matches this galaxy. Herbert Howe measured an accurate position in 1899-00 using the 20" refractor at Chamberlin Observatory (repeated in the IC 2 notes).

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/2/02): very faint, small, round, 20" diameter, low even surface brightness. Elongation not seen, so I only viewed the brighter core region as this galaxy is nearly edge-on SSW-NNE. A mag 13 star follows by 2'.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb