Francis Leavenworth discovered NGC 811 = LM 2-324 in 1886 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory and commented "neb?, *10 1' S." There is nothing at his position but 50 sec of RA west is PGC 7870 and there is a star (closer to mag 14) 40" S, so the identification NGC 811 = PGC 7870 is reasonable. The RNGC, PGC, NED and HyperLeda misidentify MCG -02-06-024 = PGC 7905 as NGC 811. This galaxy is 1° south of Leavenworth's position and it's possible Leavenworth made a transcription error of 1°, but there is no star to the south, so this identification is less likely.

400/500mm - 18" (10/25/08): very faint, very small, round, 20" diameter. Once identified this faint galaxy could be held continuously. Located 5.7' ENE of a mag 10.9 star and 22' NNE of mag 7.3 HD 12627.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb