Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 903 = St XIII-17 (along with NGC 904) on 13 Dec 1884 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory and recorded "eF, eS, R". His position matches PGC 9097, located 1.5' NW of NGC 904. This may be the faintest galaxy discovered by Stephan! NGC 903 is mentioned in the UGC notes as a companion to NGC 904 but it is not identified as NGC 903.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/20/90): extremely faint, very small, glimpsed for moments. Located 1.5' NW of NGC 904. First in a group of 6 galaxies. This is probably the faintest galaxy (LEDA gives 16.4B) discovered by Stephan with the 31.5-inch silver-on-glass reflector at Marseille.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb