William Herschel discovered NGC 972 = H II-211 = h232 = St III-9 on 11 Sep 1784 (sweep 266) and logged "F, pL, lE, bM, just north of 2 stars." On 11 Jan 1787 (sweep 680) he recorded "pB, cL, E from sp to nf [should be np to sf] but nearer the meridian, mbM, about 1' north of 3 stars in a row." On 16 Sep 1828 (sweep 178), John Herschel wrote "pB, lE, pgmB". Stephan independently found the galaxy again on 11 Dec 1871 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory and this observation led to the entry 5247 in the GC Supplement. Dreyer combined the two GC entries (560 = 5247) in the NGC. NGC 972 was observed 15 times at Birr Castle. On 7 Oct 1855, R.J. Mitchell recorded "has a knot in p edge [probably an HII region]; neb spreads out and fades away gradually sf."

200/250mm - 8" (11/8/80): fairly faint, round, bright core, bright double star to SW.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/92): bright, fairly large, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 2.0'x1.0', large bright core dominates, much fainter outer halo, appears brighter on the southeast side. Three stars (including two mag 9 stars at 45" separation) are in a line off the southwest flank and equally spaced.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb