NGC 5502 (also known as NGC 5503) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major, registered in New General Catalogue (NGC).
Observation history
NGC 5502 was discovered by Edward Swift (father) on 9 May 1885 and later double listed by Lewis Swift (son) two days later on 11 May 1885 as NGC 5503. They gave descriptions "between two stars, one a wide double" and "forms with two stars a right triangle" respectively. In the New General Catalogue, John Louis Emil Dreyer described the galaxy as "most extremely faint, very small, round, very difficult, 2 stars near". The apparent difference in positions (2 arcmin) could have caused the confusions between NGC 5502 and NGC 5503.