William Herschel discovered NGC 4827 = H II-384 = h1485 on 11 Apr 1785 (sweep 396) and noted "F, pL." John Herschel made a single observation and his RA was 6 seconds too small. NGC 4827 wasn't found on two attempts at Birr Castle in the 1850's (on one the sky was noted as hazy) but d'Arrest reported observing it in 1863 using the 11" refractor at Copenhagen, as well as 3 later observations.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/14/94): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, sharply concentrated with a faint halo and a very small bright core. The NGC 4819/NGC 4820 pair is 12.0' SSW. Outlying member of AGC 1656.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb