William Herschel discovered NGC 4174 = H III-359 = h1122 on 11 Apr 1785 (sweep 396). See notes under NGC 4169.

300/350mm - 13.1" (4/12/86): fairly faint, prominent very small bright core. Slightly elongated halo is faint and small. This galaxy is the smallest in NGC 4169 group = HCG 61. Forms a small rectangle with NGC 4175 1.5' NE, NGC 4175 2.5' NW and NGC 4173 3.6' NNW.

400/500mm - 18" (6/17/06): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:1 SW-NE, 0.9'x0.3', sharply concentrated with a bright 15"-20" rounder core with the extentions much fainter. Smallest member of the striking HCG 61 quartet.

600/800mm - 24" (5/22/17): at 282x; moderately bright, fairly small, oval 2:1 SW-NE, 0.6'x0.3'. Contains a very small and very bright core with a sharp stellar nucleus (brighter than the nucleus of NGC 4169).

900/1200mm - 48" (4/20/17): fairly bright, moderately large, elongated 3:1 SW-NE, 0.9'x0.3'. Sharply concentrated with a very small, very bright core that increases to an intensely bright stellar nucleus!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb