William Herschel discovered NGC 1633 = H III-952 = h323, along with NGC 1634, on 9 Dec 1798 (sweep 1085) and recorded "Two nebulae [NGC 1633 & NGC 1634] within 1' of each other; lying in the meridian. Both eF, vS. 300x showed the same." His position (Auwer's reduction) is 1' too far north. On 8 Jan 1828 (sweep 118), John Herschel logged "eF; pLp E towards the sf side, and has either a * or a second nucl sf [this is NGC 1634]."

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/18/85): faint, round, fairly small, faint knot involved. Forms a very close pair with NGC 1634 just 0.8' S. Situated among a group of brighter stars including mag 8.7 SAO 111965 5.4' SSW, a mag 10 star 3' SW and a mag 11.5 star 2.4' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb