George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 7549 along with NGC 7553, on 2 Nov 1850. Whilehe was observing NGC 7547 and NGC 7550 he found "4 neb in the field, perhaps another [including NGC 7547 and 7550]." No positions were measured. A diagram made in 1877 was published in the 1880 publication. Heinrich d'Arrest independently discovered this galaxy on 30 Aug 1864 and made a total of 4 observations. Herman Schultz also measured an accurate micrometric position, attributing the discovery to d'Arrest. Bigourdan noted the equivalence of d'Arrest's GCS 6151 and LdR's GCS 4912. Dreyer combined the two GC designations in the NGC.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/7/96): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 4:3 N-S, very weak concentration. Situated 1.3' following a mag 10.5 star within the HCG 93 quintet and 4.8' N of NGC 7550 = HCG 93a. Listed dimensions include extremely faint plumes not seen visually.

17.5" (9/23/89): fairly faint, fairly small, oval ~N-S, almost even surface brightness. Located 1.3' ESE of a mag 10.5 star. Second brightest in HCG 93 with NGC 7550 4.8' S and NGC 7547 5.2' SW.

600/800mm - 24" (12/28/13 and 9/27/19): moderately bright, fairly small, elongated 4:3 N-S, 0.8'x0.6', the central region is weakly concentrated. There was a hint of structure with a strong impression of a short arm on the west side extending south. A mag 11.0 star is 1.3' WNW of center. NGC 7547 = HCG 93C lies 3.8' ENE and NGC 7550 = HCG 93A is 5' due south.

24" (12/1/13): fairly faint or moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 3:2 N-S, ~60"x40". Contains a brighter central region that only has a weak, broad concentration towards the center and no distinguishable nucleus. A mag 11 star lies 1.4' WNW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb