William Herschel discovered NGC 5600 = H II-177 = h1797 on 17 Apr 1784 (sweep 200) and noted "rather F, no L, lbM, r." His position is 30 sec of time west of UGC 9220 and 2' south. He observed it again on 19 Mar 1787 (sweep 720) and measured an accurate RA, though his declination was 3.5' too far north. John Herschel logged it on 3 Apr 1826 (sweep 24) as "pB; R; gbM; 40"." His position was accurate. On 29 Apr 1856, R.J. Mitchell recorded "Edges filamentous, centre vB. I suspect the brightest part to be curved."

200/250mm - 8" (5/21/82): fairly faint, round, broad concentration.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/12/99): at 280x appears moderately bright, broadly concentrated to a 50" bright core which is slightly brighter on the following side. The small halo is slightly elongated WNW-ESE, 1.3'x1.1'. Forms one end of a cross asterism with a mag 10 star 8' NE and two mag 12 stars 4' N and 4' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb