William Herschel discovered NGC 864 = H III-457 = h206 on 25 Oct 1785 (sweep 464) and noted "vF, cL, vlbM, milky, preceding a bright star and the nebulosity joining to it, but probably unconnected." John Herschel logged on 25 Sep 1830 (sweep 300), "eF; R; attached to and np a * 11.12 mag. Clouded before it could be fully verified." Despite the clouds, his position and description match.

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/3/86): fairly faint, oval SSW-NNE, even surface brightness. A fairly bright mag 11 star is at the following edge 43" ESE of the center.

600/800mm - 24" (12/6/18): at 260x; fairly bright interesting galaxy with a mag 10.7 star superimposed on the east side that detracts from viewing structure. Overall the galaxy is fairly large with an irregular halo roughly SW-NE, ~2.5'x1.8'. Contains a very bright, round nucleus and the brighter central region appeared extended WNW-ESE. A spiral arm on the west and south side appeared as a slightly enhanced "wing", mostly seen as an enhanced curving edge. The opposing arm was only a short and weak arc enhancement that extended north of the bright star.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/29/16): this striking two-armed barred spiral appeared bright, fairly large, overall elongated 3:2 SW-NE, well concentrated with a bright core. The core extends into a weakly defined bar WNW-ESE. A long thin spiral arm is attached to the west end of the bar and it curled gradually counter-clockwise to the south for nearly 90°, ending due south of the core [separation 1.2']. A bright mag 10.7 star is superimposed on the east side [44" ESE of center]. The second spiral arm was not as easily seen as it begins just inside (west) of the bright star, which detracted from the view. This thin arm extended straight north, roughly at a right angle to the bar and merged into the halo on the northeast side. UGC 1775 = Arp 10 is 49' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb