NGC 253 is a large elongated galaxy in Sculptor. It's located 4.5 degrees due south from NGC 247, another spiral galaxy. My drawing was made at 63X and shows a 33'x4' nearly edge-on oval. There is definite brightening at the core and along the plane of the galactic disk. The galaxy is nicely framed by a pair of 8.9 magnitude stars, one at each end. NGC 253 would certainly be among the showpieces of night sky for North American observers, if not for its far southerly declination. While NGC 247 has a low 23.0 magnitude per square arc second surface brightness, NGC 253 is much brighter at 21.5 magnitude per square arc second.