William Herschel discovered NGC 663 = H VI-31 on 3 Nov 1787 (sweep 774) and recorded "a beautiful cluster of pretty large stars near 15' diameter, considerably rich." Neither JH nor LdR's assistants observed the cluster.

300/350mm - 13.1" (10/20/84): ~75 stars, fairly large, rich. Includes several doubles, the most prominent are STF 153 = 9.3/10.3 at 8" and STF 152 = 9.0/11.2 at 9" and STF 151 = 10.5/10.9 at 7".

Notes by Steve Gottlieb