400/500mm - 18" (12/18/06): faint, fairly small, elongated NW-SE, 0.6'x0.3'. Appeared to be the core of an edge-on, though the extensions were not visible. I'm surprised this galaxy was missed by the visual observers as it was immediately visible once I starhopped over to the field. A mag 11.7 star lies 2.6' NE. Located 10.5' NW of NGC 996 in the NGC 995-1005 group.