William Herschel discovered NGC 6997 = H VIII-58, along with NGC 7000 (next entry in the sweep), on 24 Oct 1786 (sweep 620), and recorded "a cl of stars." On 11 Sep 1790 (sweep 959) he logged "a cl of considerably L stars." and measured a good position. This star group is situated within the East Coast part of the North America nebula and is possibly superimposed in the foreground of the North America nebula. The RNGC and Lynga misidentify the group as NGC 6996. See Corwin's notes.

300/350mm - 13.1" (6/30/84): fairly prominent scattered group at the west edge of NGC 7000 (this is the "east" coast of the US outline). Located midway between two bright mag 6.0 and 6.8 stars with a 30' separation N-S.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/17/93): about 50 stars in a 10' diameter. Located in the eastern U.S. portion of the North America Nebula. Includes many mag 10.5-12 stars. There are no rich portions and the group is somewhat scattered. Roughly circular outline, weak concentration in center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb