 with a brighter middle but no distinct core. A faint mag 15.4/16.2 pair at 12" separation (cleanly resolved) is 1.2' ESE.
CGCG 44-54, located 4.4' NE, appeared faint, very small, round, 15" diameter, even surface brightness. A mag 14.5 star is 45" NE.
UGC 8361, located 19' E (and much closer to the IC 872 position), appeared fairly faint, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 40"x20", small bright core, occasional stellar nucleus. A mag 14.9 star is 44" NW.
24" (6/16/20): at 260x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated NW-SE, 30" diameter, slightly brighter core. A mag 15.4 star is 1.2' ESE.
Lewis Swift discovered IC 872 = Sw. 10-21, along with IC 877, 878 and 880, on 28 Apr 1891 and recorded "eeF; pS; R lbM; 1st of 5; 5060 in field = 2nd of 5; ee diff." His position falls 2' NW of UGC 8361, which is located 24' NE of NGC 5060. The problem is that NGC 5060 would be outside of Swift's eyepiece field with UGC 8361 centered. But Corwin suggests IC 872 may be UGC 8349, which is 1.2 minutes of RA west of Swift's position. This is a brighter galaxy and it lies NNW of NGC 5060. So, both of these galaxies are candidates. To further muddy the situation, there are no galaxies at all near the position of IC 877, 878 and 880. Did Swift misidentify the field completely, so it didn't contain NGC 5060? In any case, both UGC 8349 and 8361 are candidates.
24" (5/11/13): at 375x appeared fairly faint, small, round, 18", weak concentration. Compact galaxy with a moderately high surface brightness. Second of three (KTG 46) with IC 871 5.7' SW and IC 876 4.8' ENE.
24" (5/25/14): fairly faint to moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 4:3 E-W, 40"x30", well concentrated with a small bright core that increases to the center. Located 17' SW of NGC 5078. A wide 45" pair of mag 10.7 stars lies 3' NNW.
Frank Muller discovered IC 874 = LM(S) 599 on 14 Mar 1888 with the 26" refractor at Leander-McCormick Observatory. His two micrometric offsets (in RA) matches ESO 508-042.
24" (5/20/20): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, ~35"x30", stellar nucleus, hint of brightening along the spine of the major axis. A mag 13.5 star is 1.4' W.
24" (6/3/19): at 322x; moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated NW-SE, ~40"x30". An isosceles triangle "points" to the galaxy, with the mag 13.5 vertex star just 1.4' W. The other two stars are 3' NW (mag 14) and 3' SW (mag 13.5).
Lewis Swift discovered IC 875 = Sw. 9-38 on 15 Jun 1890 and reported "eF; vS; R; stellar." His position is accurate.
24" (5/11/13): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 4:3 N-S, 24"x18", weak concentration, small brighter nucleus. Third in trio with IC 871 and 873, spanning 10' SW to NE.
24" (5/25/14): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 50"x25", slightly brighter 20" core, fairly low surface brightness. Forms a pair with much brighter NGC 5078 2' NE.
Frank Muller discovered IC 879 = LM (Southern) 602 = Sw. 11-154 on 16 Feb 1888 with the 26" refractor at Leander-McCormick Observatory. His two micrometric offsets (in RA) matches ESO 508-047. Lewis Swift independently found the galaxy 10 years later on 28 Mar 1898, in the last couple of months before ending his observing career at Lowe Observatory. His position for Sw. 11-154 (later IC 4222) is exactly one degree too far south, but he mentions "[NGC] 5078 near north-following", clinching the identification. So, IC 879 = IC 4222 with IC 879 the primary designation.
24" (6/3/19): at 322x; moderately bright and large, very elongated 4:1 SSW-NNE, 0.9'x0.2', well concentrated with a small bright core. IC 881 is the brighter and larger of a pair with IC 882 3.9' NE. Both are at a distance of ~320 million l.y.
Stephane Javelle discovered IC 881 = J. 1-241, along with IC 882, on 22 Jul 1892. His position is just off the west side of the galaxy (similar offset error as IC 882).
24" (6/3/19): at 322x; nearly moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 5:4 SW-NE, 30"x24", stellar nucleus. A mag 15 star is 1' NW. Forms a (physical) pair with IC 881 3.9' SW.
Stephane Javelle discovered IC 882 = J. 1-242, along with IC 881, on 22 Jul 1892.
24" (5/20/20): at 225x and 375x; fairly faint and small, round, 30" diameter, very small bright nucleus, smooth halo. A mag 13.4 star is 3' SE. CGCG 131-004, which lies 6.7' N, is faint, small, round, at most 20" diameter.
Lewis Swift discovered IC 885 = Sw. 8-73 on 3 May 1889 and reported "vF; pS; R." His position is accurate to within 1'.
Lewis Swift found IC 888 = Sw. 8-74 on 3 May 1889 and reported "eeeF; pS; R." There is nothing at Swift's position but exactly 1.0 min of RA west is NGC 5136. Dreyer, of course, assumed it was a new object but Harold Corwin suggests IC 888 = NGC 5136.
Lewis Swift found IC 895 = Sw. 8-75 on 1 Sep 1888 and reported "vF; pL; R; * in center? D[ouble]." There is nothing near his position. The closest galaxy he might have picked up is NGC 5240, but his position is well off in RA (3 minutes 40 sec) and over 4' in declination. Without finding a suitable candidate, Harold Corwin listed this number as lost. But in August 2017, I noticed that if I added 10 minutes of RA to Swift's position, this landed just off the northeast edge of NGC 5273 (discovered by William Herschel), and Swift's description is a good match with his galaxy. This assumes he missed nearby, but much fainter, NGC 5276. Swift apparently also made a 10 minute error in recording the RA of IC 1943, discovered in 1897 near the end of his observing career.
When I contacted Corwin about this find, he noticed that the same 10 minutes of RA correction applied to IC 1028 and IC 1045, discovered on the same night! This results in IC 1028 = NGC 5739 and IC 1045 = UGC 9559, instead of the identifications IC 1028 = UGC 9368 in modern catalogues 15' SE of Swift's position and IC 1045 = NGC 5731?, from Corwin. Finally, Courtney Seligman found that IC 511, the 4th and last object discovered that night, shares the same 10 minute error (see that number). So, due to the common error of all 4 objects, these new identifications are secure.
17.5" (5/30/92): extremely faint, very small. I could only glimpse this object for moments with averted vision but it appeared very elongated 3:1 SW-NE and extremely thin. Forms a pair with NGC 5217 3' WNW. Observation verified on the POSS.
All modern sources (except for NED) misidentify IC 897 as UGC 8544, a thin edge-on located 10' SW. Bigourdan, who discovered IC 897, unfortunately misidentified his offset star and when his offsets are applied to the star he noted, the position falls close to UGC 8544. But when the correct offset star is used, the identification of IC 897 = CGCG 102-20 is matched. This identification also agrees with his offsets for IC 897 from NGC 5217.
Guillaume Bigourdan discovered IC 897 = Big. 180 on 20 May 1890 and noted "Magnitude 13.5; situated from NGC 5217 at a PA of 105, Dist. = 3.5 arcmins." His published position in Comptes Rendus (used by Dreyer in the IC) happens to fall near UGC 8544 = CGCG 102-016 and modern catalogues have taken this galaxy as IC 897. Malcolm Thomson sorted out the correct identification (see "The True Identity of IC 897" in Deep Sky Observer #136) as well as Harold Cor