Wilhelm Tempel discovered NGC 1398, along with an independent discovery of NGC 1360, on 9 Oct 1861 using his personal 4" Steinheil refractor from Marseille. Tempel didn't announce the discovery until May 1882 and in the meantime it was independently found by Friedrich August Winnecke on 17 Dec 1868 with a 4.5" refractor at Karlsruhe and Eugen Block (AN 2287) on 18 Oct 1879 with a 4" refractor at Odessa. This is the brightest galaxy discovered by Tempel (V = 9.7) and the most southerly.

Based on plates taken at the Helwan observatory in 1927-31, NGC 1398 was described as an "oval ring 5' diameter, surrounding a faint, disc 1.5' diameter with a vB central almost stellar ncl, 1/2' with a pF axis E 10?."

200/250mm - 8" (10/13/81): fairly bright, moderately large, round, bright core.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/26/94): very bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 N-S, 2.2'x1.1', well concentrated with a very bright 30" rounder core and a stellar nucleus. NGC 1360 lies 1.3? NW. This galaxy has a beautifuil inner and outer ring structure on deep images.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb