Wilhelm Tempel discovered NGC 7730 = T I-56 in 1876 with the 11" refractor at the Arcetri Observatory and recorded "Nebula, good class II, elongated, 2' dia; no known star in the vicinity." There is nothing at his very rough position (RA to the nearest minute and marked +/-) in his first list (AN 2212). The GC Supplement and NGC position, though, is about 50 seconds further east based on a position communicated directly to Dreyer. Herbert Howe reported he unsuccessfully searched for this object on two nights in 1898-99.

The ESO identifies ESO 606-002 = MCG -04-55-22 as NGC 7730. This galaxy is 17' south and 36 seconds west of his "corrected" position. Furthermore, with a magnitude of B_t = 14.8 this galaxy is pretty faint, so I doubt Tempel would refer to it as a "good [Herschel] class II". Harold Corwin was unable, though, to find another suitable candidate. See his notes.

400/500mm - 18" (11/22/08): very faint, very small, round, 15" diameter (viewed core only?), weak concentration. Located 8' WSW of a mag 9.6 HD 222507. The NGC identification with this galaxy is uncertain due to Tempel's poor position and description ("pretty bright").

Notes by Steve Gottlieb