William Herschel discovered NGC 2874 = H II-58 = H II-547 = h598 on 15 Mar 1784 (sweep 172). See NGC 2872 for the story on the duplicate entries.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/20/88): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, halo gradually increases to a bright core. A mag 15 star is 1.3' S of center. In a close trio with NGC 2872 1.3' WNW and NGC 2873 1.8' N.

600/800mm - 24" (2/8/18): at 375x fairly bright, large, very elongated 3:1 SW-NE, 1.5'x0.5', strong concentration with a bright elongated core. A short central bar is misaligned with the major axis, angling N-S (verified on the DSS). Largest in a trio with NGC 2872 1.3' NW.

900/1200mm - 48" (2/21/12): at 375x, the largest member of this striking trio appeared very bright, large, very elongated 7:2 SW-NE, 1.8'x0.5', sharply concentrated with an intense core. The northeast extension is slightly brighter, particularly along the eastern side (knotty spiral arm = NGC 2875). NGC 2872 is 1.3' WNW and NGC 2873 is 1.7' NNE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb