John Herschel discovered NGC 1574 = h2640 on 4 Dec 1834 and described "pB, S, R, pgbM, has a star 10th mag 1' distant and one 14th mag distant one radius of the nebula from its edge, both S.f." His position is accurate.

600/800mm - 24" (11/18/12 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 260x, fairly bright, fairly large, round, 2' diameter. Sharply concentrated with a well defined core. A mag 9.7 star is near the SE edge of the halo (1.1' from center). A much fainter star is at the edge of central core on the SE side, ~20" from center. Two mag 11/12 stars are 4' and 4' 6, respectively. Located 19' NW of Rmk 4 = 6.8/7.2 at 5". Member of the Dorado Group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb