John Herschel discovered NGC 7713 = h4000 on 4 Oct 1836 and recorded "pB; oval; or pmE; vgbM; 3'." The NGC has 30' error in north polar distance due to a misprint in GC, but JH's original NPD is accurate. Innes noted the error in Monthly Notices 58,330 and Dreyer included the correction in the IC 2 Notes.

200/250mm - 8" (8/16/82): very faint, elongated NNW-SSE, weak concentration. Located 40' ESE of Beta Sculptoris (V = 4.4).

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/20/90): fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 5:2 NNW-SSE, broad concentration. A mag 13 star is at the north tip. Located just east of two mag 10 and 11 stars; the closer mag 11 star is 2' W of center. NGC 7713A lies 17' NE (not seen).

600/800mm - 24" (9/26/19): at 200x and 375x: fairly bright, large, very elongated 3:1 ~N-S, ~3.5'x1.2', broad concentration and slightly brighter center in a N-S orientation but no distinct nucleus. The surface brightness appeared irregular but this galaxy is too far south to resolve any knots or other detail. A mag 11.3 star is 1.8' SW of center with a mag 10.1 star 4.8' W. A mag 13.3 star is off the N end [3.3' from center] and a mag 15 star is off the S end [2.6' from center].

NGC 7713A, located 17' NNE, appeared fairly faint, round, 1' diameter, low even surface brightness. The galaxy is collinear with a mag 12.3 star 2.6' NE and a mag 9.2 star (HD 222071) 6.4' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb