Wilhelm Tempel discovered NGC 4723, along with NGC 4722, in 1882, and reported it in the narrative portion of paper V (AN 2439). He simply noted "Following [NGC 4714] are two class III nebulae that I sketched, but could not yet measure." One of these is likely IC 3833 = PGC 43560, which is 1.2 min of RA following[NGC 4714, and NGC 4722 is equated with this galaxy. Herbert Howe could only find this object when he searched the field, so the identification of the second galaxy is very uncertain.

One possibility is the second galaxy is MCG -02-33-026 (RNGC and PGC equate NGC 4723 with this galaxy), located 9' northwest of IC 3833, though it may be too faint to have been picked up by Tempel. MCG does not label their catalogue entry as NGC 4723. Another possibility is the second galaxy is a reobservation of NGC 4848, located 11' southeast of IC 3833. Finally, a third possibility is MCG -02-033-024, located 11' southwest of IC 3833. As

The identification here is the one used in the NGC and PGC, but as Harold Corwin comments "It's clear, though, that we do not (yet) know which nebulae Tempel found."

400/500mm - 18" (5/15/10): at 220x appeared extremely faint, very small, round, 20" diameter, requires averted to glimpse and too faint for any noticeable structure. A mag 15 star lies 34" NW. Located 9' NW of NGC 4722 and 12' NE of NGC 4714.

18" (5/16/09): not seen.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb