William Herschel discovered NGC 550 = H II-463 = h122 on 8 Oct 1785 (sweep 462) and noted "F, S, lE." On 20 Dec 1786 (sweep 655) he logged "F, S, mbM, irr lE nearly in the parallel" and on 3 Dec 1787 (sweep 788), "F, vS, irr R, lbM."

John Herschel reported on 16 Dec 1827 (sweep 110), "pB; S; E from p to f; BM; has a granulated (i.e. a resolvable) appearance." Dreyer observed this object on 23 Oct 1876 with the 72" at Birr Castle and recorded "F, pL, E npsf, 2 st 13-14m p & np 2.5'. Orange-red *9-10 (with a F companion 3/4' preceding) is 9.2' NE." The mag 9.0 star is K2-type HD 8827.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/1/92): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 WNW-ESE, 1.0'x0.5', bright core has a fairly high surface brightness, faint stellar nucleus, faint halo. Located 9' SW of a mag 9.5 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb