Williamina Fleming discovered IC 4634 = Fleming 72 in 1894 on a Harvard objective prism plate.

Based on Crossley photographs at Lick, Curtis (1918) reported "the oval disk fades out slightly toward the edges; is 10"x7" in short and 11"x9" in long exposures. There are faint ansae in 160-340°, making the total length 20"."

200/250mm - 8" (6/19/82): fairly bright, very small, blue-green color. Appears stellar at 100x and just non-stellar at 200x. A small disc is clearly visible at 400x. Located 5' S of a similar mag 11 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/16/93): very bright compact planetary. A very small disc is visible at 220x. At 410x, appears as a small disc about 10" diameter, slightly elongated. Unusually high surface brightness. Estimate V = 11-11.5. A similar mag 11 star lies 4.6' N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb