William Herschel discovered NGC 3437 = H II-47 = h786 on 12 Mar 1784 (sweep 166) and recorded "pL, E, r." I think I can distinguish 3 or 4 stars in it, towards the middle, and in a row." Caroline's reduced position was 11 seconds of RA east and 1' north of UGC 5995. John Herschel made three observations and measured an accurate RA.

200/250mm - 8" (4/24/82): fairly faint, small, very elongated NW-SE.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/8/91): moderately bright, fairly large, very elongated 3:1 NW-SE, 2.4'x0.8'. Two mag 14 stars are near the NW end collinear with the major axis and a mag 13.5 star is off the SW side 3.0' from center. Slightly brighter at the SE end and also just west of the weak core. Appears slightly bowed out on the north side and flatter on the south side. There is a sharp light cutoff along the north side with a strong impression of a dust lane.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb