George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 2462 = Big. 31 on 20 Feb 1851. The number was assigned to one of a "Great many knots, reckoned 10 nearly in a line p f." This was the only observation made at Birr Castle and no positions were measured or even a rough sketch produced. John Herschel added an entry to the GC (1583) to represent this "knot" but without specific coordinates.

In the NGC, Dreyer followed Bigourdan's observation on 9 Mar 1886 in assigning a position and description ("vF, vS, vlbM"). Bigourdan's position is 21 sec of RA east and 1' S of MCG +10-12-024 = PGC 22259. His position actually falls closer to NGC 2463 = h469, but since that galaxy was also seen by Bigourdan, PGC 22259 is the only viable candidate. CGCG (287-009) misidentifies PGC 22259 as NGC 2461. See NGC 2461.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/19/91): faint, very small, round, very weak concentration. Located 10' N of mag 6.5 SAO 64347. First of four on a line with NGC 2463 5.6' E.

600/800mm - 24" (1/25/14): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated NNW-SSE, 20"x15", weak concentration to the center. NGC 2463 lies 5.5' ESE. Located 11' N of mag 6.7 HD 64347. Third in a 25' E-W string of 6 galaxies (nearly equally spaced).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb