William Herschel discovered NGC 7197 = H II-599 = h2146 on 17 Oct 1786 (sweep 612) and noted "F, pS, E." JH made the single observation "vF; lE; S; vglbM; 15"." and measured a fairly accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/5/91): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 WNW-ESE, very bright core. Located 4.1' WNW of mag 8.2 SAO 51599. Situated in a very rich star field that includes many fairly bright stars mag 10-11.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb