John Herschel discovered NGC 1546 = h2628 on 5 Dec 1834 and logged "pB, lE, gbM to an extended nucleus. A double star precedes." His position (two consecutive nights) matches ESO 157-012 = PGC 14723 and the double is HJ 363.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/19/04 - Costa Rica): fairly bright, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NNW-SSE, 1.1'x0.5', even surface brightness except for a small brighter core. Located 8' NE of mag 7.5 HD 27142. A trio of 11-12th magnitude stars trail to the SW (nearest is the easy double HJ 3635 = 8.8/10.9 at 12" just 1.7' W). Located in the Dorado Group ~25' SW of the NGC 1553/1549 pair. NGC 1533 lies 40' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb