Albert Marth discovered NGC 1542 = m 96 on 18 Nov 1863 with William Lassell's 48" on Malta and logged "vF, S, E." His position matches UGC 3003 = PGC 14800.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/11/96): very faint, small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 40"x20", very weak concentration. A mag 14.5 star is 0.9' ENE of center. Collinear with a 1' pair of mag 11 stars about 5' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb