William Herschel discovered NGC 57 = H II-241 = H II-243 = h13 on 8 Oct 1784 (sweep 286) and recorded (for II-241) "pS, cometic, but hazy weather." A couple of nights later he logged this galaxy again as II-243, "faint, small, irregularly round." In the GC, JH notes that Auwers misidentified H II-243, which is identical to H II-241 (the confusion was caused by an omitted offset star). This galaxy was observed 7 times at Birr Castle and the 26 Oct 1854 observation reads "vF, I think it is resolvable [mottled]."

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/14/87): moderately bright, fairly small, round, bright core, stellar nucleus.

600/800mm - 24" (9/16/17): at 375x; moderately bright and large, round, diffuse outer halo, 1'-1.2' diameter, but well concentrated with a small bright core and occasional sharp stellar nucleus. IC 4, located 31' NW, appeared fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S, 35"x25". No significant concentration but contains a quasi-stellar nucleus with direct vision.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb