George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 2472 on 20 Feb 1851. The number was assigned to one of a "Great many knots, reckoned 10 nearly in a line p f." This was the only observation made at Birr Castle and no positions were measured or even a rough sketch produced but there are 6 galaxies here in shallow arc oriented east-west.

In the NGC, Dreyer followed Bigourdan's positions and descriptions for six of these 8 entries, but Bigourdan didn't record an observation for NGC 2472 or 2473, so their coordinates are approximate in the NGC. As a result any assignment is somewhat arbitrary and this number could be considered lost.

The CGCG and RNGC identify CGCG 287-019 as NGC 2472 = NGC 2473. NED and LEDA identify CGCG 287-019 as NGC 2472. MCG does not label this galaxy with a NGC number. Although it is uncertain if CGCG287-019 is one of Stoney's "knots", it is comparable to a couple of other very faint ones in the string. See Harold Corwin's notes for NGC 2469.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/19/91): extremely faint, very small, very low even surface brightness. Fourth of four on a line with NGC 2469 6' W.

600/800mm - 24" (1/31/14): at 375x appeared faint, small, round, 12"-15" diameter, visible continuously but low surface brightness and no concentration. This is the last of 6 galaxies in a 25' E-W string with NGC 2469 5.5' WSW. The identification of this galaxy with NGC 2472 is just an educated guess.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb