J.L.E. Dreyer discovered NGC 4015 (along with NGC 4021 and 4023) on 24 Apr 1878 and described it as "F, vS, E pf, mbM." With respect to NGC 4005, he placed it at a separation of 545.1" in PA 124.9° and it was labeled "Beta" on the constructed sketch of the cluster. At this exact separation is Arp 138 = VV 216 = UGC 6965. The summary table questions if this nebula is H III-323, but this Herschel number applies to NGC 3987. The next night Lawrence Parsons (4th Earl of Rosse) commented "Beta has a tail n[orth] of nucleus." The "tail" refers to the northern component (VV 216b = MCG +04-28-110) of the double system, which did not receive a separate NGC designation.

The PGC positions for the two components, PGC 37702 and 37703, are nearly identical, though the dimensions (0.9?x0.2?) and magnitude (15.6) of PGC 37702 apparently apply to the edge-on. HyperLEDA assigns the PGC designation in order or RA, which puts the label PGC 37703 on the edge-on, while NED assigns PGC 37702 to the edge-on.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/19/88): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated bright core. First of three with NGC 4021 5' NE and NGC 4023 6' SE. Located close to the Coma Berenices-Leo border within the NGC 4007 group. This is a double galaxy but the companion on the north side was not seen.

600/800mm - 24" (3/22/14): moderately to fairly bright, moderately large, sharply concentrated with a very bright blazing core and a faint halo. The superimposed or interacting companion (VV 216b) was just visible at 375x as an extremely faint, elongated patch jutting out on the north side!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb