Andrew Cooper
Jun 27, 2020    Waikoloa Quarry, HI (map)
8x42mm Nikon Prostaff 3S Binoculars @ 8x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

An easy to find cluster about halfway and a bit SE between Segin and Ruchbah, small about 10' in diameter, a hazy clump in a rich galactic starfield

Andrew Cooper
Aug 19, 2017    Oregon Star Party, OR (map)
14.5" f/4.5 Starmaster @ 61x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Large, 10' across, bright, coarse, a conspicuous cluster in a rich Milky Way starfield, 2° east of Ruchbah, middle of a line of three clusters with NGC659 30' south and NGC654 30' northwest

Andrew Cooper
Sep 30, 2005    Gila, New Mexico (map)
90mm F/12 APO Violet Haze

A dense patch in a dense galactic star field, clearly visible in 9x63 binoculars, nice cluster dominated by about a dozen brighter stars with a faint mist of stars surrounding, NGC654 visible 40' north

Andrew Cooper
Dec 27, 2002    Sentinel, AZ (map)
46cm f/4.5 Deep Violet

Large, bright, rich, stands out well from the galactic background, about 100 members in a circular area, NGC659 at the edge of a low power field

Rev. T.W. Webb
May 19, 1885    Hardwick, Herefordshire, England (map)
94mm f/18 Tully Achromat

Visible in finder; field very good, 64; 80 showed Sm.'s little pair, Σ153: 8.5, 9.7: 69°.2: 7".5, but not his ruby, 8 mg., '33.

― Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, T. W. Webb, 1917

Captain William Henry Smyth
Sep 13, 1833    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A neat double star [SAO 11974 and V985 Cas], in a cluster near the Lady's right knee [NGC 663]; and it may be found by drawing a line from α through δ, and carrying it about 2½° further, A 9, and B 10½, both bluish. This object is in an elegant field of large and small stars, from a certain degree of brilliance down to infinitesimal points; but without any disposition to form, except that the larger members incline towards a parallelogram in which there are several coarse pairs. In the sp quadrant of this cluster, is a fine ruby star of the 8th magnitude [Two candidates about 4' apart with color indexes of 2.2, BD+60 327 mag 8.2 M0 or V589 Cas mag 8.9 M3].

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

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