Rudolph Spitaler discovered IC 696 = Spitaler 38, along with IC 698 and 699, on 31 Mar 1892 with the 27-inch refractor at Wien University Observatory. Spitaler missed nearby IC 2857, which was discovered later by Wolf on a photographic plate of the region.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/28/87): fairly faint, fairly small, diffuse, only a weak concentration. This is the 2nd brightest in the IC 698 group with IC 698 6.0' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb