John Herschel discovered NGC 454 = h2397 on 5 Oct 1834 and logged "vF, S, R, bM, 15 arcsec." His position is accurate.

600/800mm - 25" (10/15/17 - OzSky): NGC 454 was resolved into a neat contact double system at 244x [28" separation between centers], though better viewed at 397x. The main component is on the east side and appeared moderately bright, fairly small, elongated ~2:1 E-W, ~50"x25". At 397x it was sharply concentrated with an extremely high surface brightness elongated core and stellar nucleus. The interacting companion, PGC 4461, appears as an appendage, poking out of the southwest side and was easily seen at 397x. It appeared faint or fairly faint, small, probably elongated ~3:2 N-S, ~20"x14". On the DSS, this galaxy is highly disrupted with plumes and knots. A mag 11.9 star lies 1.6' NNW. Situated 4.7' WSW of mag 8.3 HD 7597.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb