John Herschel discovered NGC 7632 = h3985 on 5 Sep 1834 and recorded "pB; S; R; psbM; 20" [diameter]." On a later sweep he called it "vF; R; glbM; 20"." His mean position (two observations) matches ESO 291-021. Lewis Swift found the galaxy again on 8 Aug 1897 at the age of 77 and reported Sw. XI-228 (later IC 5313) as "eeeF; pL; R; 10m * near sp." His position was 14 seconds of time too small and the dec 1.7' too far south but the comment "10m * nr south-preceding" clinches this identification. In his third discovery list from Lowe Observatory (in Popular Astronomy), he added "11m * f[ollows the 10m star]. So IC 5313 = NGC 7632.

400/500mm - 18" (10/16/09): faint, fairly small, slightly elongated E-W, 0.5'x0.4' (core region probably viewed), contains a very small bright inner core, occasional stellar nucleus. Located 4' NE of a mag 10 star. Located 40' SE of the Grus Quartet (NGC 7582/NGC 7590/NGC 7599) and a member of the same group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb