William Herschel discovered NGC 4628 = H II-773 = h1394 = h3411, along with NGC 4626, on 20 Mar 1789 (sweep 913) and noted "F, S, E." JH made a single observation from the Cape of the Good Hope and logged "vF; R or lE; glbM."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/22/93): fairly faint, very elongated 3:1 SW-NE, 1.2'x0.4', even concentration down to a small bright core. Two mag 11 stars are just 1.5' N and 1.5' NE and two mag 10 stars are in the field 7' E and 7' ESE. This galaxy is the slightly brighter of a pair of very similar very elongated systems with NGC 4626 4.4' S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb