William Herschel discovered NGC 2204 = H VII-13 on 6 Feb 1785 (sweep 367) and recorded "a cluster of scattered stars, not very rich, above 15' diameter, south following a star 6-7 mag." Due to a transcrption error by Caroline Herschel while preparing her brother's first catalogue for the printer, she was credited with the discovery instead of H. VII-12 = NGC 2360. Jane Houston Jones mistakenly credited Caroline Herschel for the discovery of NGC 2204 in her Sky & Tel article on Caroline Herschel.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/28/84): two dozen stars mag 12-14 in a 10' diameter. Two mag 9 stars are on the SW and NW edge and many stars are aligned in strings. Mag 6.0 SAO 151274 in field to NNW about 11'.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb