William Herschel discovered NGC 5687 = H II-808 = h1849 on 24 Apr 1789 (sweep 927) and recorded "pB, S, iF, easily resolvable. Mixed with some pL stars which may perhaps belong to it." JH made a single observation, noting "F; irreg fig; r; has a *10, 2' sf." His position is accurate.

300/350mm - 13.1" (5/14/83): located 2.0' N of mag 9.2 SAO 29208. Faint, small, elongated 4:3 E-W. Two mag 13 and 14 stars are very close preceding 46" SW and 1.3' SSW of center, respectively.

400/500mm - 18" (5/3/08): at 280x appeared fairly bright, fairly small for a bright galaxy, elongated 3:2 ~E-W, ~1.0'x0.7'. Sharply concentrated with a very bright 20" core and much fainter extensions. A short 1' N-S string of 3 stars begins at the preceding end with a mag 13.5-14 star. A fainter mag 14.5-15 star is at the east end bracketing the galaxy. Located 2' N is mag 9.9 HD 238370.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb