John Herschel discovered NGC 4542 = h1341 on 17 Feb 1831 and noted "eF; pL; R; 30"." His position matches UGC 7746.

400/500mm - 16" LX200 (4/14/07): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SSW-NNE, 0.8'x0.4', very small slightly brighter core. A near equilateral triangle of mag 11 stars lies to the NE (closest vertex 4' NE).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb