William Herschel discovered NGC 24 = H III-461 = h2308 on 27 Oct 1785 (sweep 467) and logged it as "vF, cL, lE, glbM, 4 or 5' long." John Herschel logged it from the Cape as "F; vL; vmE; vgbM; 4' l; 1' br." Pietro Baracchi, observing with the 48" Melbourne telescope on 9 Dec 1887, called it "pF; L; vmE; gbM; fades away gradually at the ends - outline not well defined, woolly." Herbert Howe, using the 20" refractor at Chamberlin Observatory, reported the length as 3' and PA = 45°.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/86): moderately bright, pretty edge-on 5:1 SW-NE, 4.0'x0.8', large bright core. A mag 12 star is just east of the NE end. This is a little-known striking spiral.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb