William Herschel discovered NGC 279 = H III-439 = h73 on 1 Oct 1785 (sweep 448) and logged "vF, S, irr figure." JH recorded it twice at Slough and the NGC position is accurate.
400/500mm - 17.5" (10/20/90): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, small bright core, stellar nucleus.
Notes by Steve Gottlieb