Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 7624 = St IX-36 = Sw. IV-94 on 2 Oct 1878. His micrometric position is very accurate. Lewis Swift found it again on 8 Aug 1886 and noted "pF; pS; cE; 3 stars in a line near preceding." in his 4th discovery list. His position is unusually accurate (perhaps modified to match Stephan)

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/13/01): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~SSW-NNE, weak concentration. Follows a group of four mag 12/13 stars.

17.5" (8/26/00): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 SW-NE, weak concentration. A few times I had an impression of a slightly brighter arc along the west edge.

17.5" (9/23/89): fairly faint, fairly small, oval SSW-NNE, smooth surface brightness. A group of four stars mag 12-13 precede; the closest is a mag 12 star 1.5' W.

600/800mm - 24" (12/1/13): at 375x appeared fairly faint or moderately bright, fairly small, oval 4:3 SSW-NNE, weak concentration. Appears mottled and patchy, agreeing with my notes two months back! A mag 16 star is just visible at the south edge and a mag 12.5 star is 1.5' WNW. PGC 169937 lies 4.8' SW with PGC 169936 7.8' SW (the latter galaxy is 0.9' NNW of a very nice 7" pair of mag 11 stars).

24" (10/4/13): moderately bright, fairly small, oval 3:2 SW-NE, broad concentration with a small slightly brighter core. Seemed slightly clumpy or irregular in surface brightness at 375x. A mag 12.5 star lies 1.5' WNW, and an equilateral triangle of mag 13 stars is 3.5' W. PGC 169937 lies 4.8' SW and PGC 169936 is 7.8' SW. The first galaxy appeared very faint, small, round, low surface brightness, 20", diameter and the second faint to fairly faint, small, slightly elongated ~N-S, 0.4'x0.3'.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb