John Herschel discovered NGC 2626 = h3131 on 2 Jan 1835 and recorded "A star 9th mag involved in nebulosity, 3' diameter. In the milky way with multitudes of equal stars all round the neighbourhood, none of which are so affected. Sky quite pure, not the slightest nebulous haze. No doubt. The nebula loses itself imperceptibly, the star being (though excentric) yet in the most condensed part." His sketch was published on Plate VI, figure 12.

Joseph Turner observed and sketched this object on 26 Jan 1876 (unpublished plate V, figure 48) and earlier by Albert Le Sueur (figure 49). The nebulosity is shown as mostly fanning out to the north of the illuminating star but weak directly north, so it made a thick "U" shape around the star. A lithograph of the sketches was completed but not published.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/23/85): faint, small, diffuse circular reflection nebula surrounding a mag 10 central star. The surrouding, low surface brightness emission nebulosity was not seen, observing at a very low elevation.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb