Albert Marth discovered NGC 997 = m 64 (along with NGC 998) on 10 Nov 1863 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and noted "F, S". His position matches UGC 2102 = PGC 9932. Brightest in a group of faint galaxies -- one of which (NGC 997 NED01) is in the halo on the north side.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/94): faint, small, round, 40" diameter, weak concentration, small ill-defined core. Located 1.4' NE of mag 9 SAO 110644! Forms a close pair with NGC 998 1.8' NNE.

600/800mm - 24" (12/28/16): at 375x; moderately bright, fairly small, round, 30" diameter, small bright core, stellar nucleus, high surface brightness. Mag 9.5 HD 16303 is 1.4' SW. Forms a pair with NGC 998 1.8' NNE. Brightest in a group (redshift-based distance ~250 million l.y.) with CGCG 414-028 8' N and UGC 2092, an extreme superthin, lies 10.6' W.

CGCG 414-028 appeared faint, very small, round, 12" diameter. I was surprised the visibility is comparable to NGC 998. UGC 2092: extremely faint, fairly small, elongated ~5:2 SW-NE, ~20"x8", very low surface brightness! As the axial ratio of this bulgeless superthin is ~12:1, I only picked up the slightly brighter central section.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb