William Herschel discovered NGC 4536 = H V-2 = h1337 on 24 Jan 1784 (sweep 120) and noted "F, L, cE. It is bright in the middle in two or three places." He recorded the galaxy on 4 different sweeps. John Herschel reported "pB; vL; mE in pos 20° np; sbM."

R.J. Mitchell sketched the galaxy on 29 May 1856 with LdR's 72" and clearly showed the central bar and long arms forming an stretched "Z" shape. The sketch was included (Fig 24) in LdR's 1861 publication.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/24/90): fairly bright, very large, very elongated NW-SE, weak concentration, stellar nucleus. Spiral structure is suspected at the ends of the major axis. Forms a pair with NGC 4533 8' N. Located 12' WSW of mag 7.0 SAO 119485 and 12' S of mag 8.6 SAO 119474 (4' N of NGC 4533). NGC 4527 lies 30' N.

600/800mm - 24" (5/24/20): at 260x; bright, very large, very elongated at least 3:1 NW-SE with two long slightly arched arms, ~6.5'x2', strong concentration with a bright elongated core that increased to a very small but non-stellar nucleus. The long eastern arm was attached on the north side of the core and was brightest in a 1.5'-2' section angling to the SE. The arm dimmed with a diffuse, lower surface brightness extension out to 3.5' SE of center, spreading further south at the eastern end. The western arm was also brightest in the initial 1' section on the west side of the core. The arm dimmed and thinned but stretched NW ~3' from center, where is seemed to bend north and fade out.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/4/13): very bright, gorgeous showpiece spiral with two very stretched arms extending northwest and southeast ~7'x2.5'. Contains a very bright, slightly elongated core that increases to an intense stellar nucleus. One long arm emanates from the west side of the core and shoots to the northwest, extending over 3' from the nucleus. Close west of the core is a brighter, knotty region identified as [HK 83] 66/67 in the Hodge-Kennicutt "Atlas of H II regions in 125 galaxies". The second arm is connected at the northeast side of the core and stretches to the southeast. A small brightening (#53) is just north of the core where the arm is attached. This arm contains a brighter, elongated section which includes [HK 83] 23/33/35/36, opposite the brighter region on the western arm.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb