William Herschel discovered NGC 5462 = H III-789 on 14 Apr 1789 (sweep 921) and noted "vF, pS." His offset from NGC 5461 was 7 seconds of time east and 2' north, compared to the actual offsets of 10 sec and 3' north. John Herschel assigned two numbers in the GC, as he was uncertain if this was the same as one of the knots sketched by Lord Rosse (it corresponds with the knot labeled n1). Dreyer combined the two GC designations in the NGC, though the position is poor. Hermann Kobold measured an accurate micrometric position in 1898 using the 18-inch refractor at Strasbourg.

300/350mm - 13" knot in M101 located in the same arm as NGC 5461 but further to the east. This is an easily visible, compact, round knot on the opposite side of the core as NGC 5447.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/7/97): moderately bright elongated knot in M101, extended 3:1 SW-NE, ~50"x20". One of the largest and brightest HII regions in M101.

600/800mm - 24" (5/24/20): at 375x; this M101 HII region appeared relatively large and bright. It is noticeably elongated ~45"x15" SW-NE, "pointing" in the direction of NGC 5461.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb