William Herschel discovered NGC 697 = H III-179 on 15 Sep 1784 (sweep 274) and recorded "vF, pL, lE." On 13 Nov 1786 (sweep 636) he noted "pB, cL, E, mbM." Heinrich d'Arrest independently found this galaxy was on 2 Dec 1861 but his RA was 2 min too small. Dreyer assumed d'Arrest's object was new, and recatalogued it as NGC 674. So, NGC 697 = NGC 674, with NGC 697 the primary designation.

200/250mm - 8" (11/28/81): fairly faint, elongated. Located ~15' E of a close mag 6/7 double (1 Arietis).

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/29/84): fairly bright, fairly large, very elongated 3:1 ~E-W, only a weak broad concentration. The striking double star 1 Arietis (6.2/7.4 at 3") lies 16' WSW. Brightest in the NGC 697 group (also called the NGC 691 group) with a number of members about 30' S.

400/500mm - 18" (11/22/03): fairly bright, fairly large, very elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, ~3.0'x1.3'. Contains a fairly well-defined bright elongated core and a fairly smooth halo. Located 16' ENE of the bright double star 1 Arietis. NGC 695 is located 13' N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb