William Herschel discovered NGC 5544 = H II-419 = h1771 on 1 May 1785 (sweep 405) and recorded a single nebula, described as "F, pL", so he did not resolve this double system with NGC 5545. John Herschel made three observations and logged on 27 Apr 1827 (sweep 72) "F; S; a double nebula or two which run together, pos 10° nf by diagram." Interestingly, although JH described this galaxy in the GC (3833) as "F; pS; E 80°; D[ouble] or biN[uclear]", he credited LdR with the discovery of GC 3834 = NGC 5545.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/23/85): very elongated streak WSW-ENE, moderately large, uneven surface brightness. This is a contact pair appearing as two brighter knots at the SW end (NGC 5544) and the NE end (NGC 5545).

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/18): at 488x; Arp 199 = NGC 5544/5545 is a striking overlapping pair. The western galaxy NGC 5544 (type (R)SB0/a) appeared bright, moderately large, round, sharp concentration with a very bright round core. The outer halo (spiral arms that form a pseudo-ring) extends ~50" diameter with a very low surface brightness and overlaps with NGC 5545.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb