William Herschel discovered NGC 4260 = H II-138 = h1177 on 13 Apr 1784 (sweep 191) and simply noted "F". His position is 3.8' northwest of UGC 6361. JH noted "B; E; psbM." and measured an accurate position (2 sweeps).

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/24/90): fairly bright, moderately large, elongated SW-NE, broadly concentrated halo. A mag 14.5 star is off the NE end 1.4' from center. Located 7' NW of mag 7.7 SAO 11933. NGC 4261 lies 17' S.

600/800mm - 24" (4/28/14): bright or very bright, large, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, 2'x1', sharply concentrated with a very bright round nucleus. A mag 14.7 star is just off the NE edge of the halo. CGCG 042-007 lies 5.4' W ("very faint, very small, round, 15" diameter, low even surface brightness"), IC 3136 is 8' NW ("fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 SSW-NNE, 30"x12", even surface brightness") and NGC 4269/IC 3155 pair is 8' SE, just south of a mag 7.7 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb