William Herschel discovered NGC 129 = H VIII-79 = h24 on 16 Dec 1788 (sweep 892) and logged "a coarsely scattered cluster of large stars, mixed with smaller ones, not very rich." JH reported "a * 9m about middle of a vL, coarse sc rich cluster of *s 9..13 which more than fills field."

200/250mm - 8" ring-shaped open cluster with stars mag 9-13. There is a line of stars to the north on the east edge.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/29/92): 60 stars mag 10-15 in the 8'x6' central region of the cluster formed by an isosceles triangle with vertex at the south end. Each side of this triangle includes a mag 10 star and most cluster members are contained within triangle. No real boundaries and many mag 15 stars are at the edges of this triangle. Mag 6.0 SAO 21457 lies 10' S. Berkeley 2 lies 35' NW.

600/800mm - 24" (1/4/14): at 125x and 260x, ~100 stars resolved in a 10'x5' region elongated N-S. The cluster is more compressed on the south side, where three mag 9 stars (HD 236429, HD 236433 and HD 236436), form a near equilateral triangle with sides of 3'-4'. Fainter stars nearly complete an oval ring with these stars, though several stars are also inside of the ring. Starting with the mag 9 star at the south end of the triangle, a number of the brighter stars form two strings extending NNW and NNE, so the overall appearance is an elongated wedge. Two mag 9.5/10 stars are at the N tips of these strings and the eastern string is richer and better defined. Scattered mag 12-15 stars fill the interior of the wedge, with a couple of brighter stars on the south end, which is more eye-catching .

Notes by Steve Gottlieb