William Herschel discovered NGC 4030 = H I-121 = h1048 on 1 Jan 1786 (sweep 507) and recorded "vB, cL, mbM. Between, but a little following two pB stars." John Herschel made two observations and logged (sweep 145) "B; R; pL; psbM; r; 70"; has 3 or 4 large stars near." Using the Great Melbourne Telescope, Joseph Turner sketched it on 10 Apr 1877 (p. 133 of his logbook) and noted it was gradually brighter to the center with no resolution. Pietro Baracchi (in Feb 1886 with the GMT) logged it as "B; pS; R; vgpmbM".

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/24/90): bright, moderately large, oval SW-NE, halo increases to a small bright core, mottled halo with structure suspected. Bracketed by a mag 10.5 star 2.2' SSW and a mag 11 star just off the NNW edge 1.6' from the center. Visible in 16x80 finder.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb