William Herschel discovered NGC 777 = H II-223 = h182 on 12 Sep 1784 (sweep 268) and recorded "pB, pS, R." John Herschel logged on 22 Nov 1827 (sweep 106), "B; R; gbM; 40"; a considerable nebula." R.J. Mitchell, using the 72" on 18 Sep 1857, wrote "S, R, bM, several S st p and np the nucleus." The NGC position is accurate.

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/24/84): fairly bright, small, almost round, small bright core. Forms a pair with NGC 778 7' SSE. NGC 783 is 29' NNE and NGC 769 30' SSW.

600/800mm - 24" (11/24/14): at 375x; bright, moderately large, elongated 4:3 NNW-SSE, sharply concentrated with a very bright rounder core, ~0.9'x0.7'. Two fairly bright stars are in the field to the south, mag 9.3 SAO 55174 lies 5' SW and mag 8.7 SAO 55185 is 6.4' SE. NGC 778 lies 7' SSE. Brightest in the NGC 777 Group (LGG 042).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb