John Herschel discovered NGC 83 = h17 on 17 Aug 1828 and recorded "E; perhaps bicentral; makes trapezium with three B stars.". His position is ~1' N of UGC 206 = PGC 1371 and the description of the nearby stars matches. Engelhardt measured an accurate micrometric position. R.J. Mitchell, using Lord Rosse's 72" on 26 Oct 1854, noted "round and brighter in the middle."

This galaxy is identified as NGC 82/83 in MCG although NGC 82 refers to a star only.

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/29/84): fairly faint, very small, round. Three mag 10 stars follow. Located 5' NE of NGC 80 is a group.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/19/87): fairly faint, slightly elongated NW-SE, broad concentration. This is the second brightest member of the NGC 80 group with NGC 80 5.3' SSW and the NGC 91/93 pair 7.0' ESE. Three mag 10-10.5 stars lie 0.9' SSE, 1.4' ESE and 1.6' E.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb