William Herschel discovered NGC 735 = H III-176 on 13 Sep 1784 (sweep 271) and logged "Stellar, the faintest imaginable, even 240 left some little doubt." His position is 7' north of UGC 1411 = PGC 7282. Perhaps due to his error in polar distance, Bigourdan was unable to recover the galaxy. MCG (+06-05-058) doesn't label this galaxy as NGC 735.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/27/92): faint, small, very elongated 3:1 NW-SE. The apparent elongation may be exaggerated due to a mag 14 star located at the NW edge 20" from center. Several stars are nearby including a mag 10 star 1.5' SW and a mag 11.5 star 1.3' NW. Located about 1° north of the NGC 750/751 group.

600/800mm - 24" (11/24/14): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 NW-SE, 36"x15", contains a very small brighter core. A mag 14 star is superimposed on the NW tip. A mag 10.2 star is 1.5' SW and a mag 12 star is 1.4' NW.

Two faint companions are nearby, the trio forming V Zw 146. 2MASX J01563383+3411435 = PGC 2045360 is 1.4' NW of center. It appeared faint, round, 10" dia. Easily visible due to a reasonably high surface brightness. It is situated just 35" NNW of the mag 12 star to the NW of NGC 735. PGC 7293 is 1.4' NE of NGC 735 and appeared extremely faint, round, 8" diameter. Only visible occasionally with averted.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb