William Herschel discovered NGC 2774 = H III-61 = h565 on 21 Mar 1784 (sweep 181) and recorded, "suspected a nebula with 157; 240 shewed 5 small stars with a little seeming nebulosity, of which however I still have some doubts; most probably a higher power would have shown them free from it." There is nothing at his position but on 25 Mar 1827 (sweep 63), John Herschel found it 1° north of his father's position. Ralph Copeland, confirmed the northern position with the 72" on 20 Feb 1873 and called it "eF, R, glbM *15m in Pos 266.8°, Dist 25.5". Finally, Stephan independently found the galaxy on 7 Feb 1877 and recorded it in list IX-19. The NGC position from Stephan and d'Arrest is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/12/94): faint, fairly small, appears elongated E-W but probably due to mag 15 star just off the west edge 24" from center, very weak concentration. Collinear with a mag 14 star 2.1' S and a mag 13.5 star 3.8' S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb