William Herschel discovered NGC 7659 = H III-212 = h2239 on 16 Oct 1784 (sweep 294) and recorded "eF, eS, stellar. 240 verified it completely though with difficulty." JH made the single observation "vF; S; R; psbM; 15"." and measured an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/26/92): faint, small, very elongated 3:1 WNW-ESE, even concentration to a small brighter core. This galaxy has a fairly high surface brightness for CGCG mag = 15.1z.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb