Albert Marth discovered NGC 4 = m 2 on 29 Nov 1864 with Lassell's 48" on Malta and simply noted "eF". His position is 10 tsec of RA following and 5' N of NGC 3 (discovered on the same night, along with 5 other faint galaxies). The galaxy listed here (PGC 212468) is situated 4.7' NNE of NGC 3, so is a close match in position. RNGC and PGC misidentify NPM1G +07.0004 = PGC 620 as NGC 4. PGC 620 is located 15' SE of NGC 3, so is much too far away to be a reasonable candidate. NED and HyperLeda have the correct identification but SIMBAD still (as of 2017) misidentifies PGC 620 as NGC 4.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/2/86): faintest member of the NGC 3 group. Extremely faint and small, at visual threshold. Located 2.9' W of mag 9 SAO 109022 and 4.8' NNE of NGC 3.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/24/11): at 610x appeared fairly faint, very small, round, 10" diameter, high surface brightness. This description applies to the core as the faint thin extensions on the DSS were not noticed. Located 2.9' W of mag 9.5 SAO 109022 and 4.7' NE of NGC 3 in a group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb