Sir Robert Ball, an assistant on Lord Rosse's 72" telescope, discovered NGC 397 on 6 Dec 1866. While observing GC 212 = NGC 392 he noted a "suspected neb preceded by a vF*". The closest match is MCG +05-03-064 and MCG gives the tentative identification "NGC 397?". There is no "very faint star" preceding this compact galaxy but there is one close following.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/89): extremely faint and small, slightly elongated, very low even surface brightness. Faintest of three with NGC 392 2' NW.

600/800mm - 24" (10/5/13): faintest in the KTG 3 triplet with brighter NGC 392 2.2' NW and NGC 394 2.5' NNW. At 375x appeared fairly faint, small, 15"x12", slightly elongated SW-NE, very weak concentration.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb