Ralph Copeland discovered NGC 5315 on 4 May 1883 near Lake Titicaca in the Andes. He was using a 6.1" refractor fitted with a direct vision Vogel-spectroscope (NGC 5873 and 6153 were discovered the same way). The RA given in Copernicus III (1884) is 30 sec too large.

400/500mm - 18" (7/5/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): picked up by blinking at 128x with an OIII filter, though immediately noticed as non-stellar at this power. At 228x, appeared as a bright, compact, very high surface brightness 5" disc with a bluish color distinctive of high surface brightness planetaries. There was only a modest contrast gain with a UHC filter. Excellent view at 293x, though there was no sign of a central star within the high surface brightness haze. Located 4' E of mag 7.1 HD 120680. A couple of fainter stars are close following.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb