William Herschel discovered NGC 5146 = H III-115 on 9 May 1784 (sweep 210) and logged "vF, vS, stellar. 240 confirmed it with much difficulty." CH's reduction is 9 sec of time preceding PGC 47055. d'Arrest measured a single accurate position.

400/500mm - 18" (5/29/05): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 3:2 SW-NE. Sharply concentrated with a bright, 25" core and much fainter extensions. Bracketed by two mag 14.5/15 stars to the north and south. There is a faint galaxy as well as a faint star close north of the galaxy, but I assume I picked up the star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb