Albert Marth discovered NGC 1117 = m 81 on 2 Dec 1863 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and noted "Close to a small star". This is the 7th in a group of 8 galaxies he discovered that night, several of which (NGC 1109, 1111, 1112, 1113, 1117) have identification problems because of poor positions or perhaps he confused faint stars as nebulous. There is nothing near his position for NGC 1117, but UGC 2337 = PGC 10821/10822 lies 30 sec of RA east and is fairly close in declination. This is a double system and perhaps Marth thought one component was a star. Neither CGCG or MCG label this system as NGC 1117 but RNGC, PGC and LEDA apply this identification. The southern component is sometimes taken as NGC 1117.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/28/97): very faint, very small, slightly elongated N-S. Appears as a barely resolved double system oriented N-S, ~30"x20" total size. The object at the south side appears to have a stellar nucleus. The northern object has a 20" halo and appears larger. The centers of this pair are only 24" apart.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb