William Herschel discovered NGC 5493 = H IV-46 = h1755 on 22 Feb 1787 (sweep 706) and recorded "pB or almost cB, vS. Stellar, like a star with burs." Joihn Herschel described this object as "pB; R; psmbM; 15"; seems to have a * 18m involved np." His position matches MCG -01-36-013 = PGC 50670. Joseph Turner observed it with the 48" Melbourne Telescope on 15 May 1877 (p. 136 of his logbook) and noted it was elongated (sketched at least 2:1 NNW-SSE) and pretty suddenly much brighter in the middle to almost a stellar point. Pietro Baracchi also obsersed at Melbourne and called it "vB; vS; R; gpmbM; mottled; a little elongated." (10 Mar 1886)

200/250mm - 8" (6/30/84): fairly bright, very small, slightly elongated, bright stellar nucleus.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/5/97): fairly bright, moderately large. Sharply concentrated with a very bright core 40"x15" elongated WNW-ESE, increasing to a stellar nucleus. Surrounding the core is a much fainter ill-defined halo ~1.3'x1.0' which is not as elongated as the core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb