William Herschel discovered NGC 1461 = H II-460 = h2588 on 6 Oct 1785 (sweep 459) and noted "pB, S, lE, mbM or a nucleus." His position is 2' south of MCG -03-10-047 = PGC 13881, and accurate in RA. JH logged "pB, vlE, pmbM, 25" dia.", but was off by 21 sec in RA (too far east). Sch?nfeld measured an accurate position (used in the NGC).

200/250mm - 8" (11/28/81): faint, small, elongated 2:1 NNW-SSE, bright core.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/28/94): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 NNW-SSE, 1.2'x0.5'. Strong concentration with a small bright core. Located 3.3' SE of a mag 10.5 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb