John Herschel discovered NGC 7657 = h3992 on 2 Oct 1836 and noted "eF; R." His position is just 1' southwest of ESO 148-012.

600/800mm - 30" (10/15/15 - OzSky): at 303x; fairly faint to moderately bright, very elongated 3:1 WNW-ESE, 45"x15", fairly low even surface brightness. A mag 14.8 star is off the north side [27" from center] and a mag 16.6 star at the south edge [20" from center]. NGC 7657 is the faintest member of a KTS triplet with NGC 7650 11.5' WNW and NGC 7652 10.5' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb