William Herschel discovered NGC 4724 = H III-280 = h1449 on 8 Feb 1785 (sweep 372) and recorded "About half a minute preceding [NGC 4727] is a vS star which I strongly suspect to be stellar, but could not verify it with 240." His position is on[NGC 4727. John Herschel made the single observation "F; R: the np of two, 1' distant."

400/500mm - 18" (5/16/09): faint, very small, round, faint stellar nucleus (or a star is superimposed). Forms a contact pair off the west side of brighter NGC 4727 (50" between center). Two mag 12 stars in an obtuse, isosceles triangle to the north are collinear with the pair.

18" (4/9/05): faint, very small, round, 20" diameter. Contains a faint, quasi-stellar nucleus. Located just off the west side of larger and brighter NGC 4727!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb