George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 5994 on 9 Mar 1851. During an observation of NGC 5996 he noted a "small nebula preceding." This observation was not included in LdR's 1861 publication and the discovery was not included in either the GC or GCS. The rough NGC position is 34 seconds of RA too far west (no position was measured at Birr Castle).

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/14/88): fainter member of an interacting system with NGC 5996 (Arp 72). Very faint, extremely small. Appears as a barely non-stellar knot just 1.5' SW of the center of NGC 5996. A mag 14 star lies 1.3' SE.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/15/12): at 488x appeared fairly faint to moderately bright, small, elongated 2:1 E-W, 20"x10", gradually brightens to the center. This galaxy is the fainter member of the interacting pair Arp 72, and is situated just 1.5' from the center of NGC 5996. A spiral arm from the NGC 5996 hooks southwest towards NGC 5994, but the pair is not connected.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb