Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 2623 = St XIII-41 on 19 Jan 1885. His position matches UGC 4509 = Arp 243.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/11/86): faint, small, slightly elongated, weak concentration.

900/1200mm - 48" (2/28/19): this system is a late-stage galactic merger and contains two relatively prominent tidal tails. At 488x and 610x it appeared bright, moderately large, sharply concentrated with a very bright bar-like core ~E-W. The core was slightly brighter at the west end. Both tidal tails were visible with much difficulty. The eastern tail was slightly brighter and curved north and then east (bending counter-clockwise) from the central region. This arm was visible with direct vision and perhaps 0.9' in length. The southern tidal tail was pretty straight and more diffuse, extending southwest, ~0.7'. Both tails were fairly even in surface brightness and faded only towards the tips. A mag 17.5 star (not difficult) is 0.9' NW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb