William Herschel discovered NGC 255 = H II-472 = h62 on 27 Nov 1785 (sweep 478) and simply recorded "F, pS." His position is accurate. John Herschel made the single observation "vF; L; R; gbM; 30"." In 1912 Harold Knox-Shaw identified this galaxy as an "spiral with many stellar condensations in the whorls", based on photographs taken with the 30" Reynolds reflector at the Helwan Observatory between 1909-11.

200/250mm - 8" (8/28/81): faint, small, round. Located 25' NNE of NGC 246.

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/24/84): similar to previous observation but exhibits a weak concentration.

13.1" (11/5/83): moderately bright, fairly small, round, no noticeable concentration.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/16/93): moderately bright, fairly large, elongated 4:3 NNW-SSE, 2.0'x1.6', broad mild concentration. A mag 14 star lies 2.5' ESE. Forms a pair with MCG -02-03-13 11' NNW. Planetary nebulae NGC 246 is located 25' SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb