William Herschel discovered NGC 4244 = H V-41 = h1167 on 17 Mar 1787 (sweep 714) and recorded "cB or vB, vgbM, 18 or 20' l, about 2' broad, from about 60 degrees sp to nf." Member of the CVn I cloud (distance ~15 million light years)

300/350mm - 13.1" (4/12/86): fairly bright, extremely large edge-on about 10:1 SW-NE. Extends to 15' diameter (fades at the ends of the extensions). Appears as a narrow ray with only a weakly concentrated core.

400/500mm - 18" (6/4/05): beautiful, extremely large ray extends at least 3/4 across the 20' field, ~15'x1' SW-NE. The galaxy is broadly concentrated without a well-defined core or nucleus and bulges only very slightly at the center. The surface brightness is fairly low and only varies gradually over the entire length, though it has a grainy texture. A mag 13.5 star is near the NE end. Member of the M94 Group (CVn I Cloud).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb