?douard Stephan discovered NGC 1011 = St VIIIb-7 = Sw. V-31, along with NGC 1010, on 21 Nov 1876. His position is accurate. Lewis Swift independently found the pair on 29 Sep 1886. His position in his 5th list is just 10 seconds of RA too far west. Frank Muller noted the equivalence with Stephan's object in a Sidereal Messenger article (Feb 1887) that listed nebulae from Swift's 5th catalogue which had been discovered previously (acknowledged by Swift in the errata to his 6th list). Dreyer combined the two observations into NGC 1011 and credited both observers.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/94): very faint, small, round. Located 1.5' NE of NGC 1010. Second of three with NGC 1017 2.7' E.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb