John Herschel discovered NGC 1997 = h2886 on 30 Nov 1834 and described as "eF; R; 30"." His position from this single sweep is ~30" SE of the center of the cluster. Robert Innes observed the cluster in 1926 with the 26.5-inch refractor at the Union Observatory. He reported it as "Nebula, 12 mag, touching an 11 mag star on Sp, 20" diameter, looks lie the tail of a comet, star being the head." The direction of the star is at the NE edge of the cluster.

600/800mm - 30" (10/15/15 - OzSky): at 303x; fairly faint elongated glow, oriented SW-NE, ~45"x30". A mag 14 star is attached at the northeast end and a couple of additional mag 16 stars are on the NW and SW sides. Located 47' SSW of mag 3.8 Beta Dor, well to the north of the main body of the LMC.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb