William Herschel discovered NGC 706 = H II-596 = h161 on 30 Sep 1786 (sweep 607) and noted "F, S, irr F, about 1' south of a very small star." The star is exactly 1' north. John Herschel logged on 24 Sep 1830 (sweep 300), "pB; 30"; a *13m 1 radius of neb dist from edge."

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/18/89): fairly faint, fairly small, almost round, almost even surface brightness but faint stellar nucleus seen at moments. A mag 13 star is 1.0' N of center. NGC 693 lies 22' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb