Captain William Henry Smyth
Oct 8, 1836    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A round pale nebula, between the legs of Perseus and Auriga, of a slight cream-colour. It is 315 of H.'s Catalogue; and is so faint that probably I should have overlooked it, but for his having described its place so exactly, as "inclosed among six stars." It was discovered by ♅. in December, 1788, who remarked that "it stands nearly in the centre of a trapezium." Its approach is announced by a star of the 8th magnitude, in the np quadrant; and it lies nearly in mid-distance between Capella and the Pleiades, at about 12° from the latter.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

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