William Herschel discovered NGC 5230 = H III-87 = h1639 = h1643, along with NGC 5221 and NGC 5222, on 12 Apr 1784 (sweep 189). JH made 4 observations including one, on sweep 247, in which he thought it was new and catalogued it as h1643. His position was 8 tsec of RA too far west on this sweep. Dreyer combined the two h- and GC-designations in the NGC, noting "according to the well--agreeing observations of WH, d'Arrest and LdR, there are only 3 nebula." R.J. Mitchell, the LdR observer on 3 May 1856, noted 1643 [NGC 5230] is the largest and is pB, R, gbMN, about which I suspect dark spaces [dust lanes]."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/30/92): fairly faint, moderately large, round, 1.5' diameter, fairly low almost even surface brightness, weak concentration. Brightest in a group with NGC 5221 13' NNW and NGC 5222 9.7' WNW. Located near the Virgo-Bootes border.

600/800mm - 24" (6/1/13): moderately bright to fairly bright, moderately large, slightly elongated, 1.4'x1.2', broad concentration to a brighter core. With direct vision, a small brighter nucleus was visible. Largest in a quartet (similar redshifts) with NGC 5222 9.6' WNW and NGC 5221 12.8' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb