My notes from September 2015 using my 20" under SQM 21.0 skies read:

At 320x I see a large oval patch of light with a non-stellar bright compact nucleus surrounded by a slightly fainter oval region surrounded by faint outer regions. On oe side I see a line of three bright stars. At the end of the line closest to the galaxy I see another faint star. Between that star and the edge of the galaxy I see a faint smudge. That is NGC 1023A.