Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 7679 on 23 Sep 1864 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. His position (measured again 2 nights later with nearby HD 221014) is accurate. Albert Marth independently discovered this galaxy just a month later on 23 Oct 1864 at Malta and noted a "nebulous star 12.5 mag." Surprisingly, Marth missed nearby NGC 7682.

200/250mm - 8" (8/16/82): faint, small bright nucleus surrounded by a small halo.

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/3/83): fairly faint, extremely small, dominated by a very small intense nucleus.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/1/87): moderately bright, very small, round, very small bright core, stellar nucleus. Forms a pair with NGC 7682 4.3' ENE. A mag 12 star lies 2.4' WNW. Located 5.3' SE of a mag 9.5 star.

600/800mm - 24" (9/29/16): at 200x; moderately to fairly bright, fairly small, round, 25"-30" diameter, high surface brightness. Contains a small bright core that increases to a faint stellar nucleus. Burnham 1222, a close 1.4" pair of mag 10 stars, is 5.2' NW and cleanly resolved at 375x. On the SDSS NGC 7679 appears disrupted and surrounded by an off-center ring or tidal arm with a condensation (former companion?) at the eastern edge (LEDA 1253673). Forms a trio with NGC 7682 (undisturbed) 4.5' ENE and UGC 12628 11.5' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb