William Herschel discovered NGC 274 = H III-429 = h69 on 10 Sep 1785 (sweep 435), although he only noted a single object as "vF, pS, E."

The pair was observed 8 times with Lord Rosse's 72-inch. On 3 Oct 1856, observer R.J. Mitchell's wrote, "69 [NGC 274] is S, B, R, with bright nucleus; 70 [NGC 275] is F, E and patchy. Suspect formed of two knots involved in faint nebulosity; there appears to be a nebulous connexion between them all." On 15 Nov 1857, Lord Rosse experimented with a silvered secondary (the speculum secondary was covered with a thin silver layer) and noted "silvered mirror shows the object brighter than before, but no new details.”

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/29/84): moderately bright, small, compact, very small bright core. Forms a close pair with NGC 275 1' SE.

600/800mm - 24" (10/5/13): bright, round, fairly small, 0.6' diameter, sharply concentrated with a small intensely bright core that gradually increases to the center, but no nucleus. This is the brighter but smaller component of a striking double system (Arp 140 = VV 81) with NGC 275, which is attached on the SE side. NGC 273 lies 11' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb