With the 20" under dark sky, NGC's (and particularly Herschel galaxies) rarely prove difficult to find. The Uranometria chart gets me to the right field of view, and the galaxy pops into view. Identification can be a problem because of the presence of other similar magnitude galaxies, and some misidentifications in the NGC catalog, but seeing the galaxy is not an issue.
So imagine my surprise on 1/29/25 when I viewed NGC 3204 and decided to make a quick hop to NGC 3196 marked on the chart. While it was at the start of the session and the mirror wasn't fully cooled on this cold clear night, I didn't anticipate any trouble at 278x. I tried dead reckoning, drifting through the field, etc. but I didn't see anything other than very faint field stars. I consulted the Uranometria Deep Sky Field Guide and discovered it was listed as 15.7 V mag and 0.4' x 0.2'. After a few more sweeps without finding it, I decided to try another night after making a proper chart.
Note that while DSFG lists it as 15.7, it is likely a little brighter than that. The SDSS-III DR5 photometry works out to 15.3 V mag, which is what Steve Gottlieb lists in his NGC notes. The size in images appears slightly larger than given, with 0.45' x 0.25' per Wikisky which looks about right. This works out to a good 21.6 mpsas surface brightness. Usually I wouldn't have trouble finding a galaxy with these specifications.
I used Wikisky's SDSS-III display to make a chart of the field, and revisited it on 2/26/25. This time I recognized the galaxy, logging it as "xS, xxF, average/decent SB w/ some bright to middle. NW/SE elong ~2:1 and xxxF stellar core" at 278x. A 15.4 mag star follows the galaxy. There is a 16.7 mag star SE of this one. A few minutes of arc NE of the 15.4 / NGC pair is PGC 1815459. This galaxy is about 15.9+ V mag and a more modest 22.4 mpsas SB. I needed 357x to get a decent look at it and logged it as "xxxF, xxS, ave SB, barely picking up in AV, only when in right part of AV, but position is spot on."
Steve Gottlieb's NGC notes say the observations on 11 Apr 1785 were Herschel's "most productive -- with 72 discoveries -- and this was the first object found in the sweep."
