Lewis Swift independently discovered NGC 481 = Sw. VI-7 on 20 Nov 1886 with the 16" refractor at the Warner Observatory, along with Francis Leavenworth (II-303) sometime in 1886 or early 1887 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick. The discovery priority is unknown. Swift's comment "F * nr np" applies to PGC 4899. Herbert Howe measured an accurate position in 1897 using the 20" refractor at Chamberlin Observatory.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/92): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, small bright core, fairly bright stellar nucleus. A mag 13 star is 1' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb