Albert Marth discovered NGC 7102 = m 449 on 16 Oct 1863 and noted "F, pL, R." His position is 1' northwest of UGC 11786.

Harold Corwin notes that IC 5127, found by Guillaume Bigourdan on 27 Oct 1894, is probably a duplicate observation as his re-reduced position is just 5 sec of RA too far east. But his observation was made on the same night that NGC 7102 was also measured (though a different offset star was used), so this requires he measured the same galaxy twice, once assuming it was new!

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/86): moderately large but very diffuse, gradually brightens in the middle, slightly elongated NW-SE. A mag 10 star is 3.5' SSE.

600/800mm - 24" (7/30/16): fairly faint, moderately large, roundish, fairly low overall surface brightness, broad weak concentration. On images NGC 7102 appears to be interacting with PGC 214783, an edge-on 1.1' SSW. At 220x, it was glimpsed several times in the same position. It was too faint for any details, including elongation, but appeared very small.

24" (8/23/14): fairly faint, fairly large but diffuse, elongated 3:2 or 4:3 NNW-SSE, ~1.3'x0.9' but halo appears to alter its shape with averted vision (sometimes smaller) as fainter parts of the halo pop in and out of view. A mag 10.2 star lies 3.5' SSE. PGC 214783, an extremely faint edge-on, is just 1' SW. With careful viewing I had 2 or 3 momentary "pops" at this position over a couple of minutes, too fleeting for any details.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb