IC 253 is fairly faint, fairly small, round, small bright core, stellar nucleus, 30" diameter. IC 254 is an extremely faint, round, barely nonstellar spot just 1.0' SSW of NGC 1065. Requires averted vision to glimpse and <10" diameter.

Lewis Swift discovered NGC 1065 = Sw. V-38 on 29 Sep 1886 and reported "eeF, pS, * nr s, B* preceding, e difficult". His position is just 4 tsec west of MCG -03-07-059 and the description matches, so the identification is secure. Still, I'm surprised he missed nearby IC 253 to the north, which Javelle discovered later at the Nice Observatory. RNGC mistakenly equates NGC 1065 and IC 254 (a separate galaxy).

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/20/95): In a trio with slightly brighter IC 253 2.7' N and extremely faint IC 252 just 1.0' SSW (forms compact galaxy group SCG 19). Appears faint, small, irregularly round, 25" diameter. There is no core but contains a definite faint stellar nucleus. A mag 11 star is 2.9' SE of center. Located 9' E of mag 7.6 SAO 48549.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb