William Herschel discovered NGC 615 = H II-282 = h137 on 10 Jan 1785 (sweep 355) and recorded "pF, cL, irregular brightest about the middle, r." His summary description (including an observation on 10 Sep 1785, sweep 435) reads "pB, cL, lE, mbM". John Herschel made a single observation on 9 Oct 1828 (sweep 186): "pB; R; is sf a * 8m distant 10'." The galaxy is only 5' north-following the star. Rudolph Spitaler measured an accurate position with the 27" refractor at Vienna. The RC3 position angle of 25° is incorrect.

200/250mm - 8" (11/28/81): faint, small. Located 5' E of an 8th magnitude star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/1/92): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 5:2 NNW-SSE, 2'x1', evenly concentrated halo, very small bright core, bright stellar nucleus. Located 5.4' ENE of mag 8.5 SAO 129385 but otherwise the immediate field is almost devoid of stars.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb