William Herschel discovered NGC 2534 = H III-840 = h490 on 18 Mar 1790 (sweep 949) and noted "cF, cS." His position, based on Caroline's reduction was just 1.6' too far northwest (typical error), though Auwers' reduced position is 9' S of UGC 4268 (an offset shared by several objects discovered on this sweep including NGC 2469, 2488, 2497 and 2505). On 10 Feb 1831 (sweep 324) John Herschel wrote, "pB; L; R; psbM; diam 60" and very gradually fading away; has a *8m pos = 164.3°.

R.J. Mitchell, observing on 7 Mar 1885 with Lord Rosse's 72" described "Has r[esolved] look, * plain at north end. Alpha [from sketch] is a knot or star. Neb is bM and probably spiral. Certainly a dark space from south-preceding to north." Spiral structure is not evident on the DSS.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/19/91): fairly faint, small, round, broadly concentrated halo, faint stellar nucleus. A mag 15 star is 1' N. Located 2' N of mag 8.0 SAO 26726.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb