William Herschel discovered NGC 5255 = H III-803 on 17 Apr 1789 (sweep 924) and recorded "eF, vS. I was too late to verify it with 300, I had however a single glimpse which seemed to verify it." His position is within 2' (typical error) of CGCG 294-051 = PGC 48124. On 24 Apr 789 (sweep 926) he logged "Suspected, eF, vS, but may be a deception; probably 2 small close stars." This galaxy was not observed by JH nor found by Bigourdan. The GC and NGC position is a mean of sweep 924 and 926 and is 16 sec of RA too large.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/27/00): faint, small, elongated 5:2 SSW-NNE, 0.5'x0.2', very small bright core. Located 1.7' W of a mag 10.5 star. HCG 66 lies 16' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb