NGC 503, also occasionally referred to as PGC 5086 or GC 5169, is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Pisces.

[2] It is located approximately 265 million light-years from the Solar System[4] and was discovered on 13 August 1863 by German astronomer Heinrich Louis d'Arrest.

[5] Arrest discovered NGC 503 using an 11" reflecting telescope in Copenhagen.

His position matches perfectly with PGC 5086.

[6] John Louis Emil Dreyer, creator of the New General Catalogue, described the galaxy as "extremely faint, extremely small" with a "double star 4 arcmin to southwest".