William Herschel discovered NGC 1156 = H II-619 on 13 Nov 1786 (sweep 637) and recorded "pB, cL, pmE in the meridian, resolvable, within a minute of a star." His position was just off the southeast side of this dwarf Irregular. Four observations were made with Lord Rosse's 72".

200/250mm - 8" (12/6/80): faint, diffuse, slightly elongated SSW-NNE. A mag 12.5 star is just NW of the NE flank.

400/500mm - 18" (10/25/08): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 5:2 SSW-NNE, 2.0'x0.8'. Brighter along the major axis with a slightly brighter core. The outline is roughly rectangular and the surface brightness is irregular. The southwest end appears asymmetric. A mag 11.5 star is at the north end, 0.9' from center.

600/800mm - 24" (12/12/17): at 375x; fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 5:2 SSW-NNE, ~2.25'x0.9', no well defined core, noticeably irregular outline and surface brightness. The low surface brightness halo appeared to spread out on the south end and the northeast side had an indentation. The main body was somewhat uneven or mottled with a couple of very small, low contrast knots suspected. A mag 12 star is just inside the NNW border [0.9' from center] and a mag 15 star is closer in [0.7' NNE of center]. Another mag 15 star is at or just beyond the southern edge [1.0' S of center]. In a friend's 28" at 438x, a knot was confirmed west of center (~0.3'), as well as a knot northeast of center (~0.3').

Notes by Steve Gottlieb