John Herschel discovered NGC 2717 = h3144 on 20 Mar 1835 and noted "F, S, R, gpmbM, 20"." His mean position (two observations) matches ESO 496-021 = PGC 25146

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/25/95): moderately bright, fairly small, 50" diameter, oval SSW-NNE, high surface brightness. Contains a prominent 30" bright core and a stellar nucleus. Difficult to judge extent of outer halo as gradually fades into background. A mag 11 star lies 2.1' ENE of center. Located 13' NW of mag 7.1 SAO 176747.

600/800mm - 24" (2/8/18): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S. Sharply concentrated with a relatively large 30" core and a very small bright nucleus and a thin low surface brightness halo. Located 13' NW of mag 7.1 HD 76799. ESO 496-022, a very low surface brightness galaxy, lies 4.8' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb