William Herschel discovered NGC 4070 = H III-391 = h1071, along with 5 other nebulae, on 27 Apr 1785 (sweep 403) and noted together as "Six nebulae. The times and numbers belong to the three first (III-391, III-392 and III-393)..." His position (Auwer's reduction) is 2.4' southeast of UGC 7052, the same offset he made with NGC 4066 = H III-392.

Harold Corwin concludes that NGC 4059 = h1064 may be a duplicate observation of NGC 4070. See that number.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/28/87): faint, small, round, weak concentration. Located 3.8' NNE of NGC 4066 within the NGC 4065 cluster.

600/800mm - 24" (3/22/14): fairly faint to moderately bright, small, round, high surface brightness, very small bright nucleus. NGC 4066 lies 3.7' S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb