Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 865 = St V-1 on 9 Sep 1871 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory and recorded "eF; eS; irregular." His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/8/90): fairly faint, fairly small, edge-on NNW-SSE, bright middle. Located between a mag 11 star of the SSE end and a mag 13.5 star off the north end.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb