William Herschel discovered NGC 4556 = H II-380 = h1351 on 11 Apr 1785 (sweep 396) and noted "F, pL." His position (CH's reduction) is 14 sec of time too large. JH made two observations and measured a more accurate RA. There are several identifications problems within this group. See NGC 4558 for more.

400/500mm - 18" (5/12/07): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated E-W, 0.6'x0.5', bright core, very small brighter nucleus. A mag 14 star is just off the south side. First in a group with NGC 4558, NGC 4563, IC 3556, IC 3559, IC 3561, IC 3585 and IC 3590. The group is located ~55' N of NGC 4565. IC 3556, located 4.4' northeast of NGC 4556, appeared very faint, small, slightly elongated N-S, 20"x15". This galaxy is misidentified in CGCG, MCG, UGC, and PGC as either NGC 4563 or NGC 4558. IC 3561, located 4.2' east-southeast of NGC 4556, appeared very faint, very small, round, 20" diameter.

18" (4/5/03): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated, 0.7'x0.6'. A mag 13.5 star is just off the south edge 0.7' from center. Forms a pair with NGC 4558 5.2' NNE. Several other faint galaxies are nearby but the sky conditions were deteriorating and I wasn't able to search for these.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb