William Herschel discovered NGC 1778 = H VIII-61 = h344 on 17 Jan 1787 (sweep 693) and noted "a coarsely scattered cluster of large stars, irr F, not rich, like a forming one." His position is off the SW side of the cluster. On 3 Feb 1832 (sweep 399), John Herschel described "a double star in a pretty close cluster of 20 or 30 stars." His position was 20' too far north, but he corrected the NPD in a short errata list at the end of his Slough catalogue and the GC has the correct position.

200/250mm - 8" 20 stars mag 10 and fainter in a 6' field, small, elongated NW-SE, nice double star 10/10. Includes a string of mag 10-11 star to the north.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/1/92): about 50 stars mag 10-15 in a 15' field. Most stars are arranged in two rows oriented NW-SE with a dark lane between. Fairly scattered overall, includes several double stars. There is a nice double star 10/10 at 15" with two mag 13 stars near and 4' SE is a close striking double star h3266 = 9.9/11.1 at 8". A fairly rich clump is at the SE end of cluster.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb