Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 6247 on 24 Sep 1862 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. He noted the nearby mag 12 star, which he measured as 15.1 seconds east and 35" north. His position for the galaxy is ~40" south of UGC 10572, the same offset as NGC 6226.

Harold Corwin notes that Lewis Swift found this galaxy again (on 24 Jul 1889) and reported Sw. IX-70 (later IC 1233) as "eF; vS; vE; bet. 2 stars." His position is 10' too far north, but his description is an exact match (Dreyer questioned if IC 1233 = NGC 6247 in the IC description).

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/9/88): fairly faint, small, very elongated WSW-ENE, weak concentration.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb