James Dunlop probably discovered NGC 1711 = D 73 and/or D76 = h2684 on 3 Aug 1826 with his 9" reflector and described (for D 73) "a pretty bright round nebula, bright at the centre." Dunlop's position is 6' NE of the center of this LMC cluster. D 76 was also described as a "pretty bright small round nebula" and placed 11' ESE of the cluster. JH first observed this object on 11 Nov 1836 and described a "globular; B; S; R; r". On a second sweep he logged "globular; B; irreg R; gbM. Resolved into st 14m, with outliers as far as 4' diam." Herschel gave a possible equivalence with D 76.

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): very bright, large impressive cluster, appearing like a globular! Contains an intensely bright core, which is very mottled and surrounded by a well resolved halo. There appears to be two layers of superimposed layers in the halo as it includes a number of brighter stars overlaid on several dozen fainter stars. The halo extends out to at least 4' diameter, though without a sharp border as it thins. Located 9' S of mag 7.2 HD 31518. Nearby objects include S-L 56 5.5' S, NGC 1702 10' NW and NGC 1704 14' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb