William Herschel discovered NGC 2346 = H IV-65 on 5 Mar 1790 (sweep 935) and recorded "a pretty considerable star, 9 or 10m, visibly affected with vF nebulosity, of very little extent all around. A power of 300 shewed the same, but gave a little more extent to the nebulosity. The 22d Monocerotis was quite free from nebulosity." CH's reduced position is 1° too far south, but a note was added on the sweep there may be an error of 1°, due to a confusion on the polar distance.

John Herschel didn't report an observation in either his Slough or Cape catalogues. Dreyer observed the PN on 14 Feb 1877 with the 72" at Birr Castle and reported "*9 mag seems nebulous, especially on the n or np side. At last we agreed that it was nebulous all round. About 4' sp is a reddish *10 with a white-bluish *11 1' south. The nebulous star has a bluish tint."

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/11/86): bright mag 11.5 central star surrounded by fairly small, round disc. Located between two mag 13 stars 0.8' E and 1.2' W. View enhanced with Daystar 300 filter. Central star is the variable V651 Mon (mag 11.3-13.5).

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/2/02): easily picked up at 100x as a fairly small, round halo surrounding a bright mag 11.5 star. Nice view at 280x and 380x. The halo is irregularly round, ~50"x45" with a slightly uneven surface brightness and it appears a bit thinner or pinched on the NW side. Modest contrast gain with a UHC filter at 100x-280x, although this object does not require a filter.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb