William Herschel discovered NGC 5587 = H III-110 = h1787 on 17 Apr 1784 (sweep 200) and recorded "vF, vS, lE. 240x verified it." He later observed it on 19 Mar 1787 (sweep 720) and logged "pB, S, lE." His position was 7 sec of time too large. JH made the single observation "vF; R: gbM. Is np a * 8m 6' dist."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/15/99): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, 1.5'x0.5'. Extended in the direction of mag 8.5 SAO 100994 5' S. NGC 5591 lies 13' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb