Heinrich d'Arrest found NGC 472 on 29 Aug 1862 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. His position (measured on 3 nights) and description (he measured the nearby mag 9.7 star as preceding by 14 seconds) corresponds with UGC 870 = PGC 4833. d'Arrest is credited with the discovery in the GC and NGC, but in Mar 2015 Harold Corwin found that JH's h98 = NGC 468, which had previously been equated with IC 92, actually refers to this galaxy. So, NGC 472 = NGC 468, with discovery priority to JH. See NGC 468.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/89): faint, small, round, small bright core. Located 3.5' SE of a mag 10 star. IC 92 (generally misidentified as NGC 468) lies 10' WNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb