William Herschel discovered NGC 4684 = H II-181 = h1426 on 22 Apr 1784 (sweep 912) and logged "pF, pL, E, r." John Herschel made the single observation "B; not vL; pmE; pgbM." and measured a fairly accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/28/87): moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 3:1 SSW-NNE, brighter along the major axis, bright core. A mag 14 star is off the NNE tip 0.8' from center and a mag 15.5 star is following the SSW end.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb