John Herschel discovered NGC 820 = h195 on 7 Sep 1828 and logged "F; R; bM; 15 arcsec". R.J. Mitchell, using Lord Rosse's 72" on 30 Nov 1856, recorded "oval, major axis sp-nf, a F* follows closely. There is another F* in the on edge." His description is accurate and the star at the north edge is roughly mag 16.5.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/18/89): fairly faint, fairly small, oval SW-NE, bright core. A mag 15 star is just off the east edge 0.7' from the center. Located almost at the midpoint of two mag 14 stars 1.6' SW and 1.4' NNE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb