Lawrence Parsons, the 4th Earl of Rosse, discovered NGC 2 on 20 Aug 1873 using Lord Rosse's 72-inch and recorded a "vF companion [to NGC 1] south". Dreyer confirmed the observation on 29 Oct 1877 Dreyer and noted, "Nova 2' ssf easily seen, vF, eS stellar." NGC 2 was missed by both d'Arrest, who discovered NGC 1 with an 11-inch refractor, and Herman Schultz, who observed NGC 1 with the 9.6-inch refractor at Uppsala.

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/24/84): very faint, very small, low surface brightness. Forms a close pair with NGC 1.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/14/87): very faint, very small, slightly elongated, even surface brightness. A mag 12.5 star lies 1.1' W of center. Forms a pair (optical) with brighter and larger NGC 1, just 1.8' N.

17.5" (9/19/87): faint, small, elongated ~E-W. A mag 13 star lies 1' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb