William Herschel discovered NGC 1035 = H II-284 = h249 = h2489 on 7 Nov 1784 (sweep 355) and recorded "F, mE, about 3' long and 3/4' broad, resolvable." John Herschel observed this galaxy from both Slough and the Cape of Good Hope. His latter observation, made on 9 Dec 1835 (sweep 650) reads "vF, pmE, has a vF star at the S.f. extremity".

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/3/86): moderately bright, very elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE (PA 150?), fairly small. A mag 14 star is attached at the SE end. NGC 1052 lies 25' ESE.

13.1" (9/9/83): fairly faint, very elongated (nearly edge-on) NW-SE.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/29/19): at 610x, bright, large, very elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, 2'x0.6', slightly brighter core. Unusual appearance as the eastern half of the galaxy is significantly affected by dust, so it appeared noticeably darker than the western half. Furthermore, the eastern half was mottled, with an irregular surface brightness and several slightly brighter knots or patches. A bright mag 14 star is just inside the SSE tip. A mag 10.9 star is 5' N and a mag 9.2 star (HD 16583) is 7' SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb