Stephane Javelle discovered IC 700 = J. 1-198 on 28 Apr 1892 with the 30-inch refractor at Nice. His position matches HCG 54A = UGC 6487. Harold Corwin notes that "his description "Nearly round, about 40 arcsec in diameter, a little brighter toward the middle" suggests he saw at least the brightest three of the objects, blended into a single image." HCG 54 is considered a post-merger of 2 or more galaxies.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/8/97): faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 ~E-W, 1.0'x0.4', low (but probably irregular) surface brightness. A mag 14 star lies 1' S. At a couple of moments there appeared to be an extremely faint "star" at the west edge (this is probably HCG 54B). Located ~15' SE of HCG 53!

17.5" (4/1/95): faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 WSW-ENE, 1.0'x0.4', even surface brightness. A mag 13 star is 1.1' S of center. Located 4.8' NE of a mag 10 star. NGC 3697 (brightest in HCG 53) lies 14' NNW.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/16/15): at 610x, the main (central) component of HCG 54 = Rose 27 appeared moderately bright and large, elongated 5:3 WSW-ENE, ~30"x18", fairly even surface brightness. The three fainter components flank HCG 54A and together nearly merge to create an irregular extended glow ~50"x18", bending to the north on the east end.

HCG 54B, at the southwest end, is faint to fairly faint (B = 16.2), very small, round, ~8"-10" diameter. This is the second brightest of the 4 members. On the SDSS, HCG 54B appears as a very compact, bright blue knot just 15" SW of center of IC 700.

HCG 54C was easily seen as a faint (B = 17.2), small, round, 10" knot. HCG 54C is squeezed between fainter HCG 54D and HCG 54A (18" NE of the center of HCG 54A).

HCG 54D was not noticed at 613x. At 813x it appeared very faint (B = 18.5), round, only a 6" knot. HCG 54D is the faintest member of the quartet and sits at the northeast end of the chain.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb