William Herschel discovered NGC 5129 = H II-653 = h1595 on 19 Mar 1787 (sweep 720) and recorded "pB, vS, mbM, just preceding a pretty considerable star. JH made three observations and noted "a (coarse) double star follows 7.5 secs."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/23/98): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S, 1.0'x0.8'. Well-defined core with a stellar nucleus at 280x. Precedes a coarse pair of mag 10.5 star oriented N-S (closer star is 1.8' E). Brightest in a group with NGC 5132 7' NE, NGC 5136 18' SE, NGC 5115 17' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb