Albert Marth discovered NGC 645 = m 51 on 27 Oct 1864 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and noted "F, pL, mE." His position and description applies to UGC 1177.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/18/89): fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, slight broad concentration. A line of three mag 9.5-10.5 stars aligned E-W are located just north including a mag 9.5 star 3' NW, a mag 10.5 star 2.2' N and a mag 10 star 4.7' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb