Wilhelm Tempel discovered NGC 5534 = T V-30 = St XII-65 on 29 Apr 1881 and recorded "class II, stellar nucleus; a * 11-12 precedes. Lalande 21647 follows to the south." His position is accurate. Less than 3 weeks later, Stephan independently discovered the galaxy on 17 May 1881 and also measured an accurate position.

300/350mm - 13.1" (6/4/83): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated ~E-W, small faint nucleus. Located within in a line of five stars mag 11-12.5 aligned SW-NE of length 11.8'. The nearest is a mag 12.5 star 1.6' W. Mag 6.5 star SAO 139856 is 9.0' SSE.

600/800mm - 24" (6/15/15): NGC 5534 is an interacting, merging pair. The main western component is moderately bright and large, elongated 3:2 SW-NE, sharply concentrated with a small bright core and stellar nucleus, 40"x25". The dwarf companion Holm 623B = PGC 51057 is attached on the east side with the centers separated by just 26" (measured on the DSS2). At 375x it appeared faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, visible continuously. At 200x, NGC 5534 is situated within a distinctive 12' string of 5 stars mag 10.5-12.5 extending southwest to northeast. Mag 6.5 HD 125184 lies 9' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb