William Herschel discovered NGC 4714 = H III-536 = h1445 on 27 Mar 1786 (sweep 548) and noted "eF, stellar." His position matches MCG -02-33-018 = PGC 43442. JH made two observations and noted (sweep 352) "pF; S; R; gbM; 12"."

400/500mm - 18" (5/16/09): moderately bright, moderately large, very bright core 20"x15" surrounded by a much fainter elongated halo elongated NNW-SSE, 1.0'x0.6'. NGC 4722 lies 18' due east.

18" (5/28/06): fairly faint, small, round, 25" diameter, fairly high surface brightness. Even concentration to center with a fairly faint stellar nucleus. Located 18' SSW of mag 7.3 HD 111581.

18" (4/9/05): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated, 0.5'x0.4'. There appears to be a small, much fainter envelope so my description probably applies to a sharply concentrated core with a very low surface brightness halo.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb