William Herschel discovered NGC 883 = H II-436 = h215, along with NGC 881, on 10 Sep 1785 (sweep 436) and logged "F, pS, lE." On 8 Jan 1831 (sweep 318), John Herschel wrote "pB; R; gbM; 15"; a coarse D* in field."

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/4/93): moderately bright, fairly small, round, fairly high surface brightness, increases to small bright core, stellar nucleus. A mag 13.5 star is 1.3' W and an uneven mag 10/12 double star at 30" separation is located 3' S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb