Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 694 on 2 Dec 1861 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. He noted the nebula was collinear with two mag 15 stars [probably to the NW and SE].

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/29/84): faint, small, round, diffuse, even surface brightness. Member of the NGC 697 group (also called the NGC 691 group) with IC 167 5.5' SSE.

400/500mm - 18" (11/22/03): moderately bright, fairly small, 0.7'x0.5'. Fairly high surface brightness, which increases to an occasional faint stellar nucleus. A mag 10.5 star is 2.3' SE. IC 167, which lies 5.5' SSE, is very faint, elongated 4:3, 0.8'x0.6', low surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb