William Herschel discovered NGC 5719 = H II-682 = h1863 on 11 Apr 1787 (sweep 727) and noted "pB, cS." His position is 1' too far north. JH made a single observation "pB; S; lE; bM." Heinrich d'Arrest measured the position of 6 nights using the mag 10 star just under 2' north. NGC 5658, discovered by George Bond at Harvard in 1853, is a duplicate observation. See that number.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/13/91): fairly faint, fairly small, very elongated 4:1 WNW-ESE, elongated bright core, thin extensions. Located 2' S of a mag 10 star. Forms a pair with NGC 5713 11' WNW.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/4/16): bright, large, edge-on 4:1 WNW-ESE, 3.2'x0.8', well concentrated with a large, very bright elongated core. A slightly curved, sharply defined dust lane extends along the south side of the core region and into the halo. A very faint strip of the halo is visible beyond the dust lane. Forms a disrupted pair with NGC 5713 11' WNW.

On images, the prominent dust lane is clearly warped and studies reveal a counter-rotating stellar disc accreted from a previous interaction with NGC 5713.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb