Lewis Swift discovered NGC 868 = Sw. V-25 on 3 Oct 1886 with the 16" refractor at Warner Observatory. His position is a good match with UGC 1748 = PGC 8659, although other galaxies found that night in the area have poor positions, which seems like an odd coincidence. See Corwin's notes on NGC 859 and 863.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/4/93): very faint, very small, round, low smooth surface brightness. A mag 14.5 star is 1.0' NE and a mag 11.5 star 3' NE. NGC 863 lies 21' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb