William Herschel discovered NGC 4461 = H II-122 = H II-174 = h1290 on 8 Apr 1784 (sweep 187) and recorded "Two resolvable nebula at 4 or 5' dist." He assumed one of these was M86, so only added one new discovery number. On 12 April he swept the field again and recorded "Two [NGC 4461 and 4458]. Both pF, S, bM." His single position on this sweep was 22 sec of RA following NGC 4458. On 17 April he swept through the field a third time and logged NGC 4461 again as II-174 (apparently not measuring NGC 4458). NGC 4443 may be a duplicate observation. See that number.

John Herschel made an early observation of NGC 4461 on 10 Apr 1825 (sweep 2), while working on his observing technique. On 4 Apr 1831 (sweep 338) he recorded, "pB; R; psbM; the f of 2 [with NGC 4458] and measured an accurate position. See notes for NGC 4458.

300/350mm - 13.1" (5/14/83): fairly small, elongated N-S, small bright core. Forms a close pair with NGC 4458.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/25/87): fairly bright, fairly small, elongated 5:2 ~N-S, very small bright core possibly stellar. Form a pair with NGC 4458 3.7' NW. The striking NGC 4435/NGC 4438 pair lies 21' SW. Located in core of the Virgo cluster.

600/800mm - 24" (4/28/14): bright, fairly large, elongated 5:2 N-S, 2.0'x0.8', sharply concentrated with a very bright core that gradually increases towards the center. A mag 11 star lies 4' NNE. Forms a pair with NGC 4458 3.7' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb