William Herschel discovered NGC 5698 = H II-700 = h1852 on 16 May 1787 (sweep 738) and noted "pF, S, iE." His position is accurate. JH made 3 observations and logged (sweep 331) "F; pL; lE; 40" l; in a scalene triangle of stars 10..11m."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/21/93): fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 3:2 ~E-W, diffuse halo fades into background, broadly concentrated halo but fairly low surface brightness, no nucleus. Several bright stars near including a mag 10 star 2.7' SSW, a mag 11 star 3.8' ENE and a mag 11.5 star 3.9' NE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb