William Herschel discovered NGC 1187 = H III-245 = h2504 on 9 Dec 1784 (sweep 331) and noted "vF, cL, iE, resolvable, unequally bright." JH described the galaxy from the Cape as "bright; very large; pretty much elongated; very gradually brighter to the middle; 3.5' long, 2.5' broad; has in or near the middle a star 16 mag." E.E. Barnard observed the nebula on 23 Aug 1883 and was surprised Herschel called it "vF", as it was not difficult in his 5-inch refractor.

The galaxy was photographed by Harold Knox-Shaw at the Helwan Observatory between 1909-11 with the 30" Reynolds reflector and described as a "spiral with curious faint extensions". Photographs taken in 1919-20 with the new 30" mirror showed "spiral with many braches in which are a great many almost stellar condensations; pF stellar nucleus through which is a vF line in p.a. 115? [central bar], giving the central portion a Phi type appearance ([barred ring]."

200/250mm - 8" (10/13/81): faint, fairly large, elongated, diffuse. Located 4.7' SE of a mag 9 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/26/94): moderately bright, fairly large, 4'x3' NW-SE. Elongated in the direction of mag 8.8 SAO 168248, which is 4.7' NW of center. Broad concentration to an ill-defined core which contains a faint but distinct stellar nucleus.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/27/19): at 375x; very bright, very large spiral with a bright elongated core oriented WNW-ESE. The inner portion of the halo was clearly blotchy. A brighter arc or patch was just SE of the core and another brighter arc as close E and NE of the core. Finally, a subtle brighter patch was NW of the core. These brighter spiral segments formed a pseudo-ring oriented WNW-ESE. The outer halo was diffuse and extended ~4.5'x3.25', reaching a mag 15.9 star 1.9' N of center. Another 16th mag star was in the outer halo on the NE side. Located 4.6' SE of mag 8.8 HD 18967.

ESO 480-20, located 4.5' NNW, appeared faint, low surface brightness, elongated N-S, ~30"x20". Situated 0.9' NE of mag 8.8 HD 18967, which strongly detracted from the view.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb