Lewis Swift discovered NGC 817 = Sw. IV-7 on 2 Sep 1886 with the 16" refractor at the Warner Observatory and reported "eF; vS; R; right angled with 2 stars". His position is 24 tsec east of UGC 1611 = PGC 8109 and his comment "right angled with 2 stars" matches this galaxy. Bigourdan reported Swift's position is 26 seconds too large (Remarks section of his 1891 Comptes Rendus list), though Dreyer's "corrected" position in the IC 1 Notes is 0.8 tmin too far east.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/18/89): faint, fairly small, elongated SSW-NNE, low almost even surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb