William Herschel discovered NGC 4087 = H III-754 = h3375 on 24 Feb 1789 (sweep 911) and logged "Suspected, eF, too low to be verified, but I have not much doubt." John Herschel made an observation on 22 Mar 1836 (sweep 689) from the Cape of Good Hope and recorded "pB; R; gbM." Lewis Swift found it again on 11 Apr 1898 and included in his large 11th discovery list (#132) at Lowe Observatory. Howe reported Sw. XI-132, "this must be identical with 4087, since both are pretty bright, and their places agree within three seconds in right ascension and 1' in declination." As a result, Dreyer didn't assign a duplicate IC designation.

400/500mm - 18" (4/29/06): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated, small bright core. A mag 10 star 5' SSW has two faint companions (RST 2777); a close mag 13 star at 1.8" and a wider 12" companion. I'm surprised that neither one of the Herschels noted this interesting unequal triple. Several brighter stars are scattered in the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb