William Herschel discovered NGC 1208 = H II-285 = h285 = h2507 on 10 Jan 1785 (sweep 355) and logged "pF, S, lE, south of a pB triangle, about 1/2' in length." On 15 Dec 1786 (sweep 650) he recorded "F, S, lbM, E not far from the parallel; a little from sp to nf." John Herschel observed this galaxy both at Slough, England and at the Cape of Good Hope and 7 observations were made at Birr Castle.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/20/90): fairly faint, very elongated 3:1 E-W, broadly concentrated halo, much fainter extensions. First and brightest in a group with NGC 1214 = HCG 23A 11' E.

600/800mm - 24" (12/6/18): at 375x; fairly bright, fairly large, oval 2:1 WSW-ENE, contains a very bright elongated core and fainter halo, ~1.1'x0.5'. LEDA 989667, located 5.8' W, appeared faint (B ~15.8), small, elongated ~3:2, ~25"x18", fairly low surface brightness, slightly brighter core region, indefinite shape.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb