George Johnstone Stoney discovered NGC 260 on 22 Dec 1848 with LdR's 72" and recorded "3 neb in a line nff, p one = h59 [NGC 252], other two vF [NGC 258 and NGC 260], middle one [NGC 258] eF, vS, distance of extremes about 12'." Although NGC 260 = UGC 497 is 9' ESE of[NGC 252, it is collinear with the other two, and most likely the 3rd nebula seen by Stoney. Another observation in 1854 also mentions "3 neb".

Heinrich d'Arrest independently discovered NGC 260 on 27 Aug 1865 with the 11" refractor at Copenhagen. His position matches UGC 497. He noted "one of Rosse's" although d'Arrest, instead of LdR, was credited with the discovery by Dreyer.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/17/87): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated. A faint mag 14.5-15.0 star is close NE. This galaxy is the third of three with NGC 252 8.4' SW and NGC 258.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb