Francis Leavenworth discovered NGC 230 = LM 2-291, along with NGC 232 and 235, in 1886 with the 26" refractor the Leander McCormick Observatory. His position is just 0.2 min of RA east of ESO 474-014. As Leavenworth gave a size of just 0.1' and mag 16.0, it must have appeared nearly stellar.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/4/97): extremely tough, very small object only suspected on a couple of occasions. My field sketch shows it situated just south of the midpoint of two stars oriented NW-SE [separation 1.5'] and it seemed extended SW-NE (perpendicular to the line connecting the stars). This matches the DSS image, so I probably finally detected this galaxy. Located 6' SW of NGC 232 and 8' SW of the double system NGC 235.

17.5" Negative sightings on 12/3/88, 10/21/95 in thin clouds and 12/20/95.

600/800mm - 24" (12/22/14): extremely faint to very faint, small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, ~20"x10", low surface brightness. Requires averted and concentration, but clearly visible ~25% of time.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb