William Herschel discovered NGC 7251 = H III-933 = h2158 on 6 Sep 1793 (sweep 1050) and recorded "vF, S, R, bM." JH made three observations. On 27 Jul 1830, he logged "pF; lE; gpmbM; 20"." and measured an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/15/90): faint, small, round, broad concentration.

600/800mm - 24" (9/29/16): at 225x; fairly faint to moderately bright, fairly small, round, 45" diameter, broad concentration except for a very small brighter nucleus with direct vision. MCG -03-57-001, 11' SSW of NGC 7251, appeared faint to fairly faint, elongated 2:1 ~E-W, 0.8'x0.4', weak concentration with no noticeable core or nucleus.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb