William Herschel discovered NGC 1266 = H III-194 on 20 Sep 1784 (sweep 280) and noted "eF and eS. 240 verified it" There is nothing at his position, but 11.7' north and 13 sec of RA east is MCG -01-09-023 = PGC 12131. At the beginning of this sweep, WH noted "The rope being broken the PD is coarsely marked in revolutions of the axel." so this identification is reasonable. Heinrich d'Arrest noted the error and measured an accurate micrometric position on 4 different nights and noted the mag 13 star 6 seconds of RA west and 1' south.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/7/89): faint, small, oval 3:2 ~E-W, even surface brightness. A mag 13.5 star is 1.5' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb