Albert Marth discovered NGC 998 = m 65 (along with NGC 997) on 10 Nov 1863 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and simply noted "vF". NGC 998 was placed 2 sec of RA following and 1' N of NGC 997, and at this position is PGC 9934.

CGCG misidentifies NGC 997 with CGCG 414-028 = PGC 2802440, a small, very faint galaxy situated 8.2' NNE of NGC 997. The UGC notes to NGC 997 and the RNGC follow the CGCG error and also misidentify CGCG 414-028 as NGC 998. NGC 998 is mentioned as an anonymous companion to NGC 997 in the UGC notes. PGC has the correct identification, though is incorrect to use CGCG 414-028 as an alias. MCG reverses the identifications as well as the declinations. The identification of NGC 997 is included in my RNGC Corrections #7.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/8/94): extremely faint, very small, round, 20" diameter. Very low even surface brightness and requires averted vision. Forms a close pair with brighter NGC 997 1.8' SSW.

600/800mm - 24" (12/28/16): at 375x; very faint to faint, small, round, 18" diameter, very low surface brightness. Forms a close pair with NGC 997 1.8' SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb