John Herschel discovered NGC 897 = h2475 on 19 Oct 1835 and logged "pB, S, R, psbM. Has a star 10th mag exactly following in the parallel just at the edge or 35" distant from centre." His position and description is a perfect match with ESO 355-007 = PGC 8944.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/94): fairly faint, fairly small, 0.8' diameter, small bright core. A mag 11 star is 44" E of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb