William Herschel discovered NGC 4749 = H III-907 on 7 Apr 1793 (sweep 1037) and noted "vF, E from np to sf, about 1 1/2' long and 1/2' br." His RA (CH's reduction) is ~ 1.0 tmin too small. Bigourdan measured an accurate position used in the NGC.

400/500mm - 18" (6/28/03): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 NNW-SSE, 0.8'x0.3', brighter core. A distinctive "kite" asterism of mag 12-13 stars is close NW. Four mag 8-9 stars are in the 20' field around the periphery including mag 7.9 SAO 7686 at 8.5' ESE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb