MCG -02-34-023 appeared extremely faint, very small, oval ~N-S. A mag 14.5 is just off the east edge 40" from the center. This galaxy is misidentified as NGC 5070 in the RNGC.

Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 5072 on 26 Apr 1867 (his last deep sky discovery), while observing the NGC 5077 group. His single position matches PGC 46432. NGC 5070, found by Lewis Swift on 3 Jun 1886, is a duplicate entry. See that number. Herbert Howe, observing in moonlight in 1899-00, noted "it looked almost like a double star of mag 12-13, angle 30° and distance 15"."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/11/88): fairly faint, very small, round. A mag 13.5 star is in contact at the south-southwest end. Forms a pair with (R)NGC 5070 = MCG -02-34-023 3.6' NNE in the NGC 5077 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb