Guillaume Bigourdan discovered NGC 1260 = Big. 18 on 19 Oct 1884 with the 12" at the Paris Observatory, reporting "mag 13.3-13.4, 25" dia, no nucleus." His position corresponds with UGC 2634 = PGC 12219. MCG misidentifies this galaxy as NGC 1259 and then misidentifies MCG +07-07-048 = PGC 12221 as NGC 1260.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/19/87): fairly faint, fairly small, oval ~E-W, weak concentration. This member of AGC 426 is the brightest of three with NGC 1259 2.2' SW.

600/800mm - 24" (2/15/18): at 375x; moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 2:1 E-W, 45" length, strong concentration with a bright round core. NGC 1259 lies 2.2' SW and MCG +07-07-048 is 1.8' SSE. The latter galaxy appeared faint, small, round, 15" diameter. A mag ~14.5 star is at the west edge.

PGC 12206, picked up 3.2' NW, was very faint, small, round, 15" diameter, low surface brightness. CGCG 540-085, 5' NE, was fairly faint, slightly elongated SW-NE, 25"x20", very weak concentration with no distinct nucleus. A distinctive triangle of mag 11 stars (sides 1' to 1.5') is a couple of arc minutes west.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb