NGC 796 is a young, massive cluster and the most compact and dense cluster in the Magellanic tidal bridge structure.

John Herschel discovered NGC 796 = h2456 on 18 Sep 1835 and remarked "F, vS, R, has a *12m 25" distance at 45° np." On a second sweep he recorded "somewhat doubtful, but I believe it is a vF neb involving a vF star." His third observation was reported as "eF, S, R, 10" close to a vS star."

This object was first identified as an outlying open cluster of the SMC in 1935, based on long exposure Bruce plates taken at the Arequipa station in Peru.

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): fairly bright but fairly small. The main knot is round, ~30" in diameter with a single star that stands out at the SE edge. Barely off the NW edge is a 10" knot that is possibly detached. This knot increases the total size to nearly 45"x30", elongated NW-SE. Located 8.5' SW of mag 8.2 HD 12440.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb