William Herschel discovered NGC 4177 = H III-534 = h3383 on 27 Mar 1786 (sweep 548) and logged "vF, pL, of unequal light." His position is 12 sec of time too far west. JH recorded "vF; pL; R; vgbM; 60"." and measured a fairly accurate position.

400/500mm - 18" (5/8/04): fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 3:2 WSW-ENE, 1.0'x0.7', broad concentration. With averted vision a very faint larger halo increases the size to perhaps 1.4'x1.0'.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb