Lewis Swift found NGC 948 = Sw. V-29 on 1 Nov 1886 with the 16" refractor at the Warner Observatory and logged a "D neb with GC 547 [NGC 945]...". Swift's position is about 15 tsec of RA east of MCG -02-07-015.

Ormond Stone perhaps discovered this galaxy before 12 Oct 1886. The nebula in Leander McCormick list I-56 is a close match with NGC 948, though there is no mention of brighter[NGC 945, so I'm not certain of the identification. [NGC 945 and 948 were observed and measured by Sherburne Burnham (Publ of Lick Observatory, II) but his RA is too far west. Herbert Howe measured accurate positions for the pair in 1897 using the 20" refractor at Chamberlin Observatory.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/4/93): very faint, very small, slightly elongated halo has a very low surface brightness. Forms a pair with much brighter and larger NGC 945 2.5' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb