William Herschel discovered NGC 4033 = H II-508 on 31 Dec 1785 (sweep 503) and logged "pB, S, lE, bM." Using the Great Melbourne Telescope on 11 Apr 1877, Joseph Turner sketched it as very elongated SW-NE with a brighter core (p. 133 of logbook). Pietro Baracchi reported it as "B; S; lE; gpmb." (28 Feb 1886, GMT). Engelhardt measured an accurate position.

300/350mm - 13.1" (4/29/84): fairly bright, small, elongated 3:2 SW-NE, small bright nucleus. Located 1° north of the "Antennae" galaxies NGC 4038/NGC 4039 and a member of the group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb