E.E. Barnard discovered NGC 1302 around Jan 1885 with his 5-inch Byrne refractor while sweeping comets (Sidereal Messenger 4, p53 and The Observatory 8, p123). His position is accurate.

200/250mm - 8" (10/13/81): fairly faint, bright core, fairly small, round.

300/350mm - 13.1" (10/10/86): fairly bright, compact, oval ~N-S, small very bright core. A mag 11.5 star is 1.9' NE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb