Johann Elert Bode
The cluster was recorded in 1751-2 by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, who initially thought it was the nucleus of a bright comet. Lacaille then listed it as "Lac I-1", the first object listed in his deep-sky catalogue. The number "47" was assigned in "Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne nebst Verzeichniss" ("General description and verification of the stars and indexes"), compiled by Johann Elert Bode and published in Berlin in 1801. Bode did not observe this cluster himself, but had reordered Lacaille's catalogued stars by constellation in order of Right Ascension.