Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 653 = St XIII-11 on 29 Nov 1883 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory and recorded "vF, pL, mE, 1' major axis, lbM, sev * inv". His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/89): fairly faint, fairly small, edge-on SSW-NNE, small bright core. A mag 12.5 star is 1.3' ESE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb