William Herschel discovered NGC 4550 = H I-36 = h1343, along with NGC 4551, on 17 Apr 1784 (sweep 199) and recorded "Two small but bright nebula; both lE." John Herschel made 3 observations (earliest on 11 Apr 1825, sweep 3) and recorded on 25 Mar 1830 (sweep 245), "pB; R; bM; 20"; the sp of 2; pos of the other from this by micrometer = 33.5°."

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/25/87): fairly bright, fairly small, pretty edge-on N-S, small bright core, faint stellar nucleus. A mag 12 star lies 2.9' SE. Forms a pair with NGC 4551 3.2' NNE. Located 20' S of M89.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb