John Herschel discovered NGC 7661 = h3993 on 1 Nov 1834 and recorded "eF; L; R; vgvlbM; 100"; a difficult object." His position is accurate. RNGC classifies this galaxy as a unverified southern object.

600/800mm - 25" (10/15/17 - OzSky): at 244x; faint, fairly large, somewhat elongated or irregular,~1.4'x1.1', very low surface brightness (face-on spiral?) halo with only a very weak concentration. A 12' string of 7 stars extends southwest. Observed under windy conditions, though my query "face-on spiral" is accurate.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb