John Herschel discovered NGC 1379 = h2561 on 25 Dec 1835 and reported a "Globular cluster, pB, R, gpmbM, 70 arcsec." His position corresponds with ESO 358-027 = PGC 13299. He also described a few other galaxies in the Fornax cluster as globulars.

In 1915, Harold Knox-Shaw reported it was not resolved visually and showed on continuous spectrum on a photograph taken at the Helwan Observatory with the Reynolds reflector.

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

300/350mm - 13.1" (12/22/84): bright, almost round, bright core, almost stellar nucleus. Forms a right angle with NGC 1387 11.5' SE and NGC 1381 10' NE. Member of the Fornax I cluster.

400/500mm - 18" (12/17/11): very bright, fairly large, round, 1.6' diameter. Well concentrated with a very bright 20" core that increases to a bright, stellar nucleus. Slightly larger NGC 1387 lies 11.5' SE and elongated NGC 1381 is 10.5' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb