William Herschel discovered NGC 5047 = H III-670 on 7 May 1787 (sweep 732) and simply noted "vF". CH's reduction is NGC dec is 3' north of MCG -03-34-036 = PGC 46150. d'Arrest made a single observation and measured an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/17/90): fairly faint, fairly small, edge-on 4:1 ENE-WSW, very small bright core. Fifth of six in the NGC 5044 group with NGC 5044 13' NW, NGC 5049 8' NNE and NGC 5046 11.6' N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb