William Herschel discovered NGC 1125 = H III-450 = h272 on 6 Oct 1785 (sweep 459) and noted "vF, S, E." His position is accurate, though falls closer to the fainter southwest component (MCG -03-08-034). The northeast component (MCG -03-08-035 = PGC 10851) is generally identified as NGC 1125.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/18/95): moderately bright, fairly small, very elongated 7:2 SW-NE, 1.5'x0.4', small bright core. MCG -03-08-034 at the southwest tip was not seen.

600/800mm - 24" (1/28/17): at 225x and 375x; moderately bright, elongated nearly 3:1 SW-NE, 1.0'x0.35', small bright core, stellar nucleus. Forms a very close (optical) pair with MCG -03-08-034 barely off the southwest end [0.9' from center]. At 375x, the companion appeared very faint, very small, slightly elongated N-S, 12"x8". The redshift of MCG -03-08-034 is nearly 3x that of NGC 1089, so they don't form a physical pair.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb