Albert Marth discovered NGC 1166 = m 85 on 1 Oct 1864 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and noted "eF, S". His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/9/99): very faint, fairly small, weak concentration. The halo is ill-defined but appears irregularly round, ~0.8'x0.6. A couple of mag 15.5 stars are within 1' of the west side. Also confusing the observation is a superimposed mag 15.5+ star at the north edge which pops in and out of view for moments. A wide pair of mag 14 stars lie 3' NE. Forms a pair with fainter NGC 1168 5.2' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb