William Herschel discovered NGC 803 = H III-208 = h190 on 15 Oct 1784 (sweep 291) and logged "eF, vS, iR, just following a pB star." On 11 Jan 1831 (sweep 319), John Herschel reported, "vF; not vS; glbM; follows *10m 3.5 sec." His description and position matches UGC 1554 = PGC 7849.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/18/89): fairly faint, fairly small, edge-on N-S. A mag 11 star is 1.0' WSW of center. Located 49' SE of mag 7.6 HD 12315.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb