Brightest in a group a (LGG 444), along with NGC 7041 27' NW. ESO 235-85 lies 7.5' WNW. NGC 7049A = ESO 235-84 + NGC 7041B lies 14' NW. Also one of the brightest members of the Pavo-Indus Cloud along with NGCs 7041, 7083, 7144, 7205.

ESO 235-085 is fairly bright, fairly small, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, 24"x18", very high surface brightness. A mag 15.6 star is 35" N of center.

James Dunlop discovered NGC 7049 = D 406 = h3860 on 4 Aug 1826 and recorded "a small round nebula, about 12 or 15 arcseconds diameter, very bright immediately at the centre, resembling a small star surrounded by an atmosphere. This is N.f. a star of the 6th magnitude." His position is 4' ENE of center. John Herschel observed the galaxy twice, improved the position, and logged on 30 Sep 1834, "vB, pS, pmE, psvmbM, 25" long, 15" broad." Two nights later he noted "B, R, pgmbM, 1'."

600/800mm - 30" (10/14/15 - OzSky): at 394x; extremely bright, large, oval 4:3 SW-NE, at least 2.0'x1.5', high surface brightness, very sharply concentrated with a blazing core that is mottled and increases to a stellar nucleus. A faint star is embedded just west of the core (not visible on overexposed images).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb