James Dunlop discovered NGC 4696 = D 511? = h3424 on 7 May 1826 and described a "pretty large faint nebula." His position is 12' too far southeast. It's also possible that D 510 refers to NGC 4696. Dunlop's description reads "faint nebula, about 12" or 15" diameter, a little brighter to the centre, very faint at the margin." His published position for D 510 15' too far northwest. Neither of these positional discrepancies are unusually large, so either could apply. The relative positions suggests D 510 = NGC 4696 and D 511 = NGC 4706, though that may be a coincidence.

John Herschel made the single observation on 5 Jun 1834, "pB; L; R; gbM; 2' resolvable." His position is accurate. JH discovered 16 other galaxies in the Centaurus cluster.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/7/89): brightest galaxy in the Centaurus cluster (AGC 3526). Moderately bright, moderately large, oval WNW-ESE, brighter core. A mag 13.5 star is at the NW edge. NGC 4709 lies 15' ESE and NGC 4706 12' E. NGC 4696 is located 1.4° SW of 4.3-magnitude n Cen (HD 111968).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb