William Herschel discovered NGC 1012 = H III-152 = h241 on 11 Sep 1784 (sweep 266) and recorded "vF, pS, of equal light." On 11 Jan 1787 (sweep 680) he logged "F, irr figure, some stars visible, but they seem not to belong to it." On 16 Sep 1828 (sweep 178), John Herschel recorded "pB; irreg R; bM; 18"; resolvable. RA doubtful". R.J. Mitchell made a sketch with the 72" on 23 Nov 1857 and it was included in LdR's 1861 publication (plate XXV, figure 4).

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/27/92): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, broad concentration. Unusual appearance as a mag 13.5 star is embedded just east of the core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb