History

Abell 76 was discovered in 1955 by the American astronomer George Ogden Abell on the photo plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). In 1955 he published a first list of 13 globular clusters and the positions of 73 planetary nebulae. The PN had the number 62 (A55 62). In 1966 Abell published a complete list including the size and description of the 86 planetary nebulae discovered on the POSS photo plates. He described its morphological appearance as «E» — a symmetrical ring with gaps (incomplete ring). ^{[331, 332]}

In 1971 French astronomer Marguerite Chopinet first pointed out that Abell 76 was not a galactic nebula. She used the 1.2 m telescope of the Haute-Provence Observatory and an image-tube spectrograph to obtain a spectrum that showed several redshifted features. The calculated radial velocity and derieved distance led to the conclusion that Abell 76 was a galaxy. The misclassification was also noted by Kohoutek in 1978. ^[246]