History

This planetary nebula was discovered by William Herschel on 7 August 1784 using his 18.7-inch telescope. He classified it as a «faint nebula» and logged it as II 204, adding the notes: «Pretty bright, small, stellar, not verified.» ^[463] John Herschel observed the nebula on 27 June 1837 from South Africa, listed it as h 3744 and noted: «Pretty bright; very small; 4" at the utmost in diameter; a good deal furry at the edges, and doubtful if not a little brighter in the middle. It is not a 'stellar nebula' but rather alink between a planetary and a globular; is probably a very distant and highly compressed globular cluster; has a star 9m 3' distance, south following; night superb and vision perfect. This is one of the smallest if not the vey smallest nebulous object I remember to have seen. It is a very remarkable object.» ^[11]

In 1915 Knox-Shaw reported it was a not a globular cluster, but a planetary nebula, based on a photograph taken at the Helwan Observatory with the Reynolds reflector. Curtis (1918) reported «..the central star is about mag 13. The nebular disk is 16"x14" in p.a. 150°, and is nearly equal density throughout, without ansae or other structural details.» (Crossley photograph). ^[364]