William Herschel discovered NGC 5477 = H III-790 on 14 Apr 1789 (sweep 921) and noted "vF, pL." His position was 2' too far east but the brief description fits. This is a surprisingly low surface brightness galaxy to be picked up during a sweep. Bigourdan measured an accurate position on 17 Jun 1887. This galaxy was found on Crossley plates taken by Keeler at Lick Observatory in 1898-1900 and catalogued as a new nebula (#681 of 744) in the 1908 Publications of Lick Observatory, Vol VIII.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/23/85): extremely faint. Nearby is a mag 14.5 star 1.2' SW of center and a mag 15 star is superimposed south of the core. A brighter mag 12 star is 3.5' E of center. Member of the M101 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb