William Herschel discovered NGC 4691 = H II-182 = h1432 on 22 Apr 1784 (sweep 204) and recorded "pF, pL, E, r." John Herschel made the single observation "B; pmE nearly in the parallel [E-W]; gmbM; 90" l, 60" br." and measured a fairly accurate position.

The SDSS image shows a very knotty bar and Hermann Kobold measured two positions in 1894 at Strasbourg; one he labeled as the main nucleus and a seond (close west) that he identified as nebulous. This galaxy may be a late merger based on the SDSS image.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/28/87): bright, fairly small, oval 2:1 WSW-ENE, brighter along the major axis, small bright core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb