John Herschel discovered NGC 1787 = h2731 in the LMC on 25 Dec 1837. His single observation placed this cluster at 05 00 17.3 -65 50 33 (2000) and his description "p Rich cl of S stars which fills field" appears to describe the entire 20'-25' stellar association HW 15, which includes NGC 1783 and SL 178.

The RNGC and NGC 2000.0 position 04 59.1 -65 44 (2000) from Lucke and Hodge's "A Catalogue of Stellar Associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud", AJ, 75, 171-175, corresponds with the northwest portion of the association. The Hodge-Wright Atlas identifies NGC 1787 = S-L 178 at 05 01 44 -65 49.4, on the east side of the association, and ESO and Morel's Visual Atlas of the LMC follows this misidentification. Shapley & Lindsay did not equate S-L 178 with NGC 1787.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/17/04 - Costa Rica): large cloud of stars (association LH 15), 15'-20' in size, over an extensive haze of unresolved stars. 40 to 50 mag 11-13 stars were visible at 105x within the cluster. NGC 1783 is located 15' S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb