William Herschel discovered NGC 7171 = H III-692 = h2138 on 12 Aug 1787 (his only discovery on sweep 750) and recorded "eF, E from np to sf, about 2' long and 1' broad." JH made three observations and recorded on 9 Sep 1825, "vF; R; vgbM; r; 90"."

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/3/83): faint, very diffuse, moderately large, weakly concentrated but no nucleus, elongated 3:2 WNW-ESE. Appears fainter than the V magnitude suggests.

600/800mm - 24" (9/22/17): at 200x and 375x; moderately or fairly bright, fairly large, elongated ~5:3 NW-SE, ~1.6'x0.9', irregular halo and surface brightness, broadly concentrated, occasionally seemed to have brighter elongated sections (arcs of spiral arms?) and darker regions (probably dust). A mag 14.7 star is at the southeast end.

IC 1417, situated 12' NW. appeared fairly faint, fairly small, very elongated, 3:1 or 7:2 WNW-ESE, 0.9'x0.3', contains a small bright elongated core with faint extensions, a mag 15 star is at the ESE end.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb