Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 1 on 30 Sep 1861 while testing the 11-inch f/17.5 Merz refractor of the Copenhagen Observatory, though he missed nearby NGC 2. This was his first deep sky discovery, though d'Arrest was uncertain if his object was identical to h4 or h5 (both of which refer to NGC 16). He described (combination of 4 observations) NGC 1 as "faint, small, round, 20", no concentration. In a straight line connecting two stars 11 and 14 mag." Herman Schultz also observed NGC 1 three times in 1866 and 1868 with a 9.6-inch refractor at Uppsala and also missed fainter NGC 2. The NGC 1 and 2 visual pair are not physically related. NGC 1 lies at a distance of ~200 million l.y. with NGC 2 at roughly 320 million l.y.

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/24/84): fairly faint, very small, small bright core.

13.1" (11/5/83): faint, very small. Forms a pair with NGC 2 2' SSE.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/14/87): moderately bright, slightly elongated ~E-W, bright core, stellar nucleus. Forms a pair with NGC 2 just 1.8' S.

17.5" (9/19/87): fairly faint, oval 3:2 ~E-W, small, bright core, stellar nucleus. A mag 12 star lies 1.9' NNE and a mag 13 star is 1.5' NNW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb