William Herschel discovered NGC 1624 = H V-49 on 28 Dec 1790 (sweep 989) and reported "6 or 7 small stars, with faint nebulosity between them, of considerable extent, and of an irregular form." G.P. Bond independently discovered NGC 1624 at Harvard College Observatory on 18 Feb 1851 with a 4" comet-seeker and reported it as a discovery.

300/350mm - 13.1" (12/22/84): fairly bright, round, compact glow surrounding a small group of at least five stars mag 11.8 and fainter using a UHC filter. The brightest cluster member (NGC 1624-2) and the principal source of ionization is the most magnetic massive star known with 35 solar masses and 20,000x the sun's magnetic field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb