William Herschel discovered NGC 5297 = H I-180 = h1668 on 9 Apr 1787 (sweep 725) and recorded "cB, mE about 3' long from 60° np to sf, the brightness confined to a small place." JH made the single observation "not vB; E 45° np to sf by diagram; gbM." Nearby NGC 5296 was discovered by LdR's assistant.

200/250mm - 8" (5/21/82): faint, moderately large, thin spindle NW-SE. Located 2' SW of a mag 9 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/2/00): very nice edge-one situated just 2' SW of a mag 9 star (SAO 44745). The galaxy is elongated 6:1 NW-SE, ~5'x0.8'. At the NW edge is a mag 12 star and the extension appears longer is this direction. The brighter core bulges in the center and the surface brighter is irregular or mottled in different spots.

17.5" (6/7/97): fairly bright, large edge-on NW-SE, ~4.0'x0.8'. Located 1.9' SW of mag 8.9 SAO 44745. A mag 12 star is superimposed on the NNW extension (2.4' NW of center). Large, brighter core is weakly concentrated. Forms a pair with NGC 5296 1.6' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb