William Herschel discovered NGC 4294 = H II-61 = h1197 on 15 Mar 1784 (sweep 174) and recorded "Two [with NGC 4299] considerable, E, F nebula; their situation is in the same parallel; and they are near fixed pB stars." CH's reduced position is about a min of RA following UGC 7407 and the description fits. JH's description on sweep 242 is interesting: "F; vmE; like a double neb composed of 2 R nebulae."

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/18/87): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, 2.0'x0.7', fairly weak concentration. A mag 14.5 star is at the north end 1.1' from center. Forms a pair with NGC 4299 5.6' E.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb