William Herschel discovered NGC 1729 = H III-503 on 1 Feb 1786 (sweep 518) and reported "vF, pL, sp 2 pB stars, equilateral triangle. Its nebulosity reaches the two stars." His position and description is accurate.

Lewis Swift independently found this nebula on 20 Nov 1886 (6th discovery list, #22) and wrote, "eeeF; pS; R; pF * nr foll; [NGC 1740] in field."

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/89): fairly faint, fairly small, oval SSW-NNE. A mag 11 star is close off the east end 1.0' from center and a mag 12.5 star is 1.1' N of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb