William Herschel discovered NGC 4450 = H II-56 = H II-90 = h1282 on 14 Mar 1784 (sweep 170) and recorded "A resolvable nebula of an irreg shape of about 2 or 3' diam. It is near a pB star." CH's reduced position is 30 sec of RA preceding and 2.4' north of UGC 7594. He recorded it again a week later on sweep 182 as "pL, r, bM", measured an accurate position, and noted this nebula was observed in sweep 170. But his next entry (H II-90) was placed 1.0 min following and there is only one galaxy here, so he must have recorded NGC 4450 a second time in the sweep! JH made 8 observations, apparently looking for a second nebula, but found only one and combed the two H-designations in the GC.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/23/87): bright, fairly large, elongated 2:1 N-S, 4'x2', diffuse halo, increases suddenly to a high surface brightness core. Located 3.9' NE of mag 8.9 SAO 100115.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb