Albert Marth discovered NGC 1539 = m 94 on 6 Sep 1864 with William Lassell's 48" on Malta and reported "vF, vS, gbM." There is nothing at his position, though CGCG 488-001 = PGC 14852 lies 1 min of RA east and 5' N (nearly 15' ENE). Harold Corwin notes this would be a fairly large error for Marth, so the identification is uncertain, though there are no other candidates within at least 30' he might have picked up instead. See Corwin's notes.

400/500mm - 18" (12/10/07): faint, small, slightly elongated ~SW-NE, 0.4'x0.35', moderate concentration with a small brighter core. Appears a little brighter than the catalogued magnitude. Located ~ 4' W of a NNW-SSE string of three mag 12-13 stars with another mag 12 star 3' W enclosing the galaxy with this triangular asterism. The identification of NGC 1539 is uncertain.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb