R.J. Mitchell discovered NGC 717 on 12 Oct 1855 with Lord Rosse's 72" and noted "5' nf this nebula [NGC 714] is another fainter ray." Heinrich d'Arrest independently found the nebula on 16 Sep 1866 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. Lawrence Parsons made another observation on 18 Nov 1876, recording "Foll last neb [NGC 714] is an eF, pL neb with a star 15m ~1' sf." In the 1880 publication Dreyer indicated that the Birr Castle observation was a duplicate of d'Arrest's GC 5198. LdR and d'A are mentioned as the discoverers in the NGC.

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/22/84): very faint, slightly elongated ~E-W, 6' E of NGC 714.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/19/87): faint, small, edge-on WNW-ESE, small bright core. Located 5.1' E of NGC 715 in the core of AGC 262.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb