Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 1268 on 14 Feb 1863 with the 11" refractor at Copenhagen Observatory. His position (measured on 2 nights) and description (1' north of NGC 1267) matches UGC 2658. At the same time, he discovered and measured NGC 1267, 1270, 1272, 1273 and 1278.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/28/84): extremely faint, very small, diffuse. Located 1' N of NGC 1267 in AGC 426.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/24/87): extremely faint and small, round, faint stellar nucleus. Forms a close pair with NGC 1267 1.2' S. Also very near are CGCG 540-089 1.8' SW and NGC 1270 is 2.7' ESE. Located in the central core of AGC 426 with NGC 1272 6.8' E.

600/800mm - 24" (2/13/18): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, very slightly elongated,~0.6'x0.5', nearly even surface brightness. A 15th magnitude star is superimposed on the south side. Forms a close pair with NGC 1267 1.2' S. NGC 1268 has a significantly lower surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb