John Herschel discovered NGC 53 = h2314 on 15 Sep 1836 and recorded "extremely faint; round; very little brighter in the middle; 30" across." His position matches ESO 111-020 = PGC 982.

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): moderately bright and large, elongated 5:3 N-S, 1.2'x0.7'. Broadly concentrated, then suddenly condenses to a sharp stellar nucleus. A mag 11 star lies 1.7' W of center and a faint star lies 1' NE of center [on the DSS it appears to be a close double star]. Several mag 10-12 stars are in the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb