Lewis Swift discovered NGC 1080 = Sw. V-40 on 21 Oct 1886 with the 16" refractor at Warner Observatory. His position is 5 tsec east and 15" north of MCG -01-08-003 = PGC 10416.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/26/94): fairly faint, fairly small, round, 1.0' diameter, almost even surface brightness, well-defined halo. Several stars are near and forms the west vertex of an equilateral triangle with two mag 12.5/13.5 stars 2.7' SE and 2.6' NE of center. A brighter mag 11.5 star lies 3.5' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb