William Herschel discovered NGC 278 = H I-159 = h71 on 11 Dec 1786 (sweep 644) and logged "vB, R, vgmbM, about 1.5' dia., about 1' south of a pretty considerable star." On 30 Nov 1787 (sweep 786) he noted "cB, R, vgbM, about 1 1/2' dia." R.J. Mitchell, observing with LdR's 72" on 16 Oct 1855, recorded "pB, R, N, light certainly patchy, but I can distinguish no stars in it. It is a right handed spiral?? I suspect a F* cl following the nebula."

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/13/90): bright, moderately large, round, bright core, stellar nucleus. Located 3' S of mag 8.8 SAO 36725.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/27/16): at 610x and 813x; NGC 278 is extremely bright, large, the halo has a squarish appearance, ~1.4' diameter, high surface brightness. Very well concentrated with an intense round core that increases to the center. Sections of the two main thick spiral arms are visible, particularly along the north and south portion of the halo. Slightly darker lanes outline the inside of the arms. The inner arm sections are only noticed as subtle brighter patches. A well defined, small knot is on the east side of the halo [25" from center] and a second small knot is on the northeast side [23" from center]. These two star-forming complexes are catalogued as X-ray sources in NED. I also noted a third object at the NE edge, but at this position on the HST image is a very faint star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb