William Herschel discovered NGC 4547 = H III-802 = h1344 on 17 Apr 1789 (sweep 923) and logged "vF, lE." His re-reduced position is just 1.3' northeast of MCG +10-18-069 = PGC 41896. This is a double system, with III-802 referring to the brighter northwestern component that was likely seen by WH. A second observation a week later (sweep 926), confirmed the position of III-802, and he also picked up III-807 = NGC 4549 = PGC 41954. JH made two observations, noting on sweep 345, "pF; pL; E; vgbM; precedes a * 9m."

RNGC and CGCG misidentify the double system as NGC 4547 + NGC 4549. MCG misidentifies MCG +10-18-068 as NGC 4547 and MCG +10-18-069 as NGC 4549. See Harold Corwin's identification notes for a thorough discussion of the identifications.

400/500mm - 18" (5/12/07): this is a very small and close double system oriented NW-SE. The slightly brighter and larger NW component is very faint, very small, round, 15" diameter while the SE component is extremely faint and small, round, 10" diameter. The pair is cleanly resolved, though the centers are just 27" apart. MCG +10-18-68 lies 3' NW and NGC 4549 is 4.3' NE. Located 3.8' WNW of a mag 10.5 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb