Lewis Swift found IC 487 = Sw. VII-10 on 11 May 1890 and reported "eeF; vS; R". His position is 2' SE of UGC 4141 = PGC 22377, the only nearby galaxy. Howe remarked the nebula was elongated at 110° (ESE-WNW). This galaxy was discovered by Marth in 1864, but his RA for #110 in his discovery list (later NGC 2494) was 1.0 minute too large and neither Swift nor Dreyer connected NGC 2494 with IC 487. UGC, MCG and CGCG label this galaxy IC 487 because of the positional match but NED, HyperLeda and SIMBAD equate the numbers. See Harold Corwin's identification notes.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/23/88): moderately bright, oval ~E-W, fairly small, bright core. A nice triple star lies 4' ESE; the closer components are mag 11/12 with separation 19".

Notes by Steve Gottlieb