William Herschel discovered NGC 125 = H III-869 = h23, along with NGC 128, on 25 Dec 1790 (sweep 985) and recorded "vF, vS, bM, N.f. 2 small stars. 300 shewed it very plainly in the field with the following NGC 128]. The NGC position is accurate. The CGCG (383-027) doesn't label their entry as NGC 125.

300/350mm - 13.1" (11/5/83): faint, small, round, small bright core. Two stars close SW are oriented N-S. Second brightest of three in the NGC 128 group.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/88): fairly faint, small, round, very bright core, stellar nucleus. A mag 12/13 double star at 20" separation oriented NNW-SSE lies 1' SW. Located 6' WSW of NGC 128 in a compact group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb