William Herschel discovered NGC 4654 = H II-126 = h1411 on 12 Apr 1784 (sweep 189) and noted "pF, pL, E, r." JH recorded (sweep 192) "vF; vL; 2' l, 90" br; 3 stars near, one = 9th mag." In sweep 245 he questioned if "it is double nebula?".

Harold Corwin identifies IC 3708, found by Schwassmann in 1900 on a plate taken by Max Wolf, as the northwestern arm of NGC 4654.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/21/90): bright, large, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, bright core, mottled. Appears to have a dust lane along the north side. Several bright stars are in the field including a mag 10 star 3.2' WNW, a mag 11 star 6.1' NE and a mag 12 star 2.1' N. NGC 4639 lies 17' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb