William Herschel discovered NGC 736 = H II-221 = h169 on 12 Sep 1784 (sweep 268) and logged "F, pL, mE, r, 1 1/2' long." JH observed this galaxy on 3 sweeps by and described it on 11 Nov 1827 as "pB; R; bM; has a *13m np". Both Herschel's positions match UGC 1414 = PGC 7289. John Herschel thought his father's description was irreconcileable ("much elongated" vs "R"), so they probably referred to different objects and he assigned separate designations in the General Catalogue. Bindon Stoney sketched the group using the 72" on 11 Oct 1850 and NGC 736 is labeled Alpha.

300/350mm - 13.1" (10/20/84): moderately bright, small, a faint star is at the north edge. A nearly stellar galaxy (NGC 738:) is close NE.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/1/86): moderately bright, fairly small, round, small bright core, small halo. A mag 15 star is 30" N (this is NGC 737). In a close quadruple group with NGC 738 1.3' NE, NGC 740 3' SE and (R)NGC 733 3.6' WNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb