John Herschel discovered NGC 1196 = h2505 on 8 Jan 1877 while observing the field of NGC 1200. He logged it on two consecutive nights as "vF" and "the S.p. of two [with NGC 1200]", but missed nearby NGC 1195.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/20/90): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 WNW-ESE, well-defined bright core. A mag 13 star is 1.7' N and a mag 12 star is 3' SSE. Second of four in the NGC 1200 compact group with NGC 1195 2.2' N.

600/800mm - 24" (12/6/18): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 WNW-ESE, small bright nucleus, ~30"x20". A low surface brightness halo increases the size with averted to ~40" in diameter. Occasionally it brightened along the spine of the major axis like a bar. In a group (USGC S110) with several NGCs and ICs, including NGC 1195 2.3' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb