William Herschel discovered NGC 4690 = H III-664 on 11 Apr 1787 (sweep 726) and logged "vF, S." His position is 2.5' south-southeast of UGC 7964. No observations were made by JH but d'Arrest made a single observation with an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/21/90): faint, very small, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, very small bright core is possibly stellar.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb