Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 105 = St XIII-4 on 15 Oct 1884 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory and described as "eF, S, R, vlbM". His position matches UGC 241 = PGC 1583. Lewis Swift independently found the galaxy again on 31 Oct 1886 and reported it in list V-7. His position is just 5 tsec too far W and his comment "inside of and near [the] preceding corner of equilateral triangle" applies.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/19/87): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated NW-SE, weak concentration. Two mag 13.5 star lie 0.7' W and 1.4' ESE. Situated in a group of six mag 13/14 stars.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb