NGC 185 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. NGC 185, like its neighbor NGC 147, is a satellite galaxy of the nearby Andromeda Galaxy (M 31).
NGC 185 was discovered by William Herschel on November 30, 1787, and cataloged by him as H II.707. His son John Herschel observed it again, and cataloged it as h 35 in his catalog of 1833, and as GC 90 in his General Catalogue of 1864. They described it as "Pretty bright; very large; irregularly round; very gradually much brighter to the middle; barely resolvable [mottled]."
NGC 185 has apparent dimensions of 14.5' x 12.5', and a visual magnitude of 9.2.
The first photograph of NGC 185 was obtained by James Edward Keeler of Lick Observatory between 1898 and 1900. NGC 185 and its neighbor NGC 147 were recognized as members of the Local Group by Walter Baade in 1944.
These two dwarf elliptical galaxies appear only 58' apart, and are probably gravitationally bound as a physical pair. Both are more remote satellite galaxies of the Andromeda Galaxy, M 31, but are somewhat closer, at a distance of 2.08 million light years, versus 2.3 million for M 31.
NGC 185 is about 9700 light years across. Unlike most dwarf elleptical galaxies, NGC 185 actually contains young star clusters; star formation has proceeded slowly in this galaxy until the past one billion years or so. A supernova remnant was also discovered near the center of NGC 185 in 1999.