ESO 530-018 is an extremely faint and small object in the NGC 7035 group. Located 8' ESE of NGC 7035 and 4' W of the ESO 530-020 triplet. It required concentration and extended viewing to glimpse this threshold object close (NE) of a mag 15 star. Confusing the observation further is a second threshold galaxy (MCG +05-50-004) that was also glimpsed on a couple of occasions close southeast of the star.
MCG -04-50-007 is the middle in a close trio oriented SW to NE. Although appearing very faint and small, this member is the largest and brightest of the trio (ESO 530-020), seems to have a brighter core and is slightly elongated ~SW-NE. MCG -04-50-006 is the furthest southwest and appears extremely faint, very small, slightly elongated SSW-NNE, but direction uncertain due to faintness. MCG -04-50-008 is the northeast member of the chain and appeared extremely faint, very small, round. This galaxy is close SE [40"] of a mag 13 star and is just cleanly resolved from MCG -04-50-007 to the southwest. The trio is situated 4' S of a striking double star h5251 = 8.5/8.7 at 9".
Frank Muller discovered NGC 7035 = LM 2-460 in 1886 with the 26" refractor at the Leander McCormick Observatory. His rough position (nearest minute of RA) is 21h 11m -23d 05' and he only noted "iR" with a size of 0.5'. ESO/Uppsala and Harold Corwin identify ESO 530-015 as NGC 7035 as the most likely candidate. This is a close pair of interacting galaxies about 3' south and 34 second of RA west of Muller's position. Corwin's Southern Galaxy Catalogue has listings for both components, identified as NGC 7035a and NGC 7035b.
The RNGC identifies either edge-on ESO 530-018 or nearby MCG -04-50-004 as NGC 7035. This pair lies 5' to 6' south of Muller's position, though happen to match in RA. As the Leander McCormick positions tend to be fairly accurate in declination, this identification is less likely. It is also possible that NGC 7035 refers to a close chain of three galaxies 4' east of the edge-on, though Muller would have probably resolved this trio. There are a number of galaxies in the area, roughly matching Muller's declination, so if he was too far west in RA then there are several additional candidates!
400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/97): brightest in a small group of galaxies - this object was quickly noticed to be double at 220x oriented WNW-ESE. The very close components are just resolved, round, ~20" diameter each and very similar in brightness. Several faint galaxies are in the field to the east including ESO 530-018, MCG +05-50-004 and ESO 530-020 (resolved triple galaxy).
Notes by Steve Gottlieb