William Herschel discovered NGC 5003 = H III-655 on 9 Apr 1787 (sweep 725) and recorded "vF, pS, lbM". There was confusion in the transit time and he gave a range of 3 minutes in RA (offset 5-7 min 26 sec preceding and 2° 57' north of 19 CVn). UGC 8228 is located 7 min preceding the offset and 3' south, and Harold Corwin found that additional systematic errors account for the other differences. UGC 8228 is not labeled NGC 5003 in the UGC, MCG (+07-27-033) or CGCG (217-013). RNGC and PGC misidentify MCG +07-27-037 = PGC 45732 as NGC 5003.

400/500mm - 18" (7/1/03): faint, small, round, 0.5' diameter, fairly low surface brightness. Collinear with two mag 12.5 stars 2.6' NNE and 6' NNE. This galaxy is not identified as NGC 5003 in RNGC, UGC, MCG, CGCG or PGC. See identification notes.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb