Francis Leavenworth discovered NGC 4862 = LM 1-194, along with NGC 4863, on 26 Feb 1886. His rough position (nearest min of RA) is a good match with MCG -02-33-079 = PGC 44610 and his sketch (examined by Harold Corwin) confirms this identification. Herbert Howe measured an accurate position with the 20-inch refractor at the Chamberlin Observatory in Denver at the turn of the century (listed in the IC 2 Notes section). In MN Vol LXI #I, he also mentioned "Another was suspected perhaps 5 arcmin south of this one." There is nothing at this position, but 5' north is NGC 4863, probably the suspected object.

IC 3999, found by Bigourdan in 1895, may be a duplicate observation. See Harold Corwin's identification notes on IC 3999 for the story.

400/500mm - 18" (5/15/10): not found.

600/800mm - 24" (6/1/13): extremely faint to very faint, small, round, 20" diameter, low surface brightness, no details though no difficult. A mag 14 star lies 1.8' NW. Located 6.8' SW of NGC 4862 (exactly on a line with the major axis of this edge-on) and 4.7' E of mag 9.8 HD 112771.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb