James Dunlop discovered NGC 1527 = D 409 on 28 Sep 1826 and described as "a very small and very faint round nebula, about 20" diameter." His position is 10' too far NE. JH independently found this galaxy (h2612) on 28 Dec 1834 while searching for D 409 and recorded "B, E, spmbM, growing more round internally; 60" long, 30" broad; pos 77?." On a second sweep he called it "pB, E, vsbM to a roundish nucleus." His third observation logged it as "pB, pmE, vsvmbM; seen in sweeping in vain for Dunlop 409." Herschel tentatively suggested this object corresponded with Dunlop 409 in the Cape Catalogue though the equivalence is not mentioned in the NGC. It's also possible that D 429 is a duplicate observation with a 1? error in declination (too far north).

600/800mm - 24" (11/18/12 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): very bright, fairly large, elongated nearly 3:1 WSW-ENE, 3.2'x1.2'. Very sharply concentrated with a blazing core that is elongated 2:1, increasing to a very small, intense nucleus. A mag 14 star lies 1.2' N of center and a mag 15.3 star is a similar distance south of center. Probable member of the Dorado Group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb