Francis Leavenworth discovered NGC 1414 = LM 2-377 on 19 Nov 1886 with the 26" refractor at the Leander McCormick Observatory and recorded "mag 15.8, 1.6'x0.1', E 0? (N-S), bMN. His description and position is accurate (just off the south side). Herbert Howe corrected position, measured in 1899-00 using the 20" refractor at Chamberlin Observatory, refers to NGC 1422. In Harvard Observatory's 1933 "Catalogue of 985 Extragalactic Nebulae in a Region in Fornax and Eridanus", Robert Baker noted the "Original NGC position in agreement with present catalogue".

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/12/02): faint, fairly small, very elongated 3:1 N-S, 1.0'x0.3'. Collinear with two mag 13 stars 6' S. Forms a pair with NGC 1422 8' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb