Albert Marth discovered NGC 5050 = m 249 on 30 Apr 1864 and noted "F, vS, stell." His position is 1.5' southwest of UGC 8329, the only nearby galaxy.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/1/02): fairly faint, small, elongated 3:2 SW-NE, 0.6'x0.4'. Contains a very small bright 15" core. Collinear with two mag 13/14 stars less than 2' N. Located 10' SSE of mag 7.3 SAO 119834.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb