Guillaume Bigourdan discovered NGC 1283 = Big. 23 on 23 Nov 1884 with the 12" at the Paris Observatory, reporting "mag 13.4, 20" diamewter, vlbM." His position is accurate.
400/500mm - 17.5" (8/12/88): faint, small, round. A pair of stars are close north.
17.5" (11/14/87): faint, very small, slightly elongated. Forms the southern vertex of an isosceles triangle with a mag 13.5 star 1' N and a mag 14 star 1' NNW. This member of AGC 426 forms a pair with NGC 1282 2' SSW.
Notes by Steve Gottlieb