Lewis Swift discovered NGC 5720 = Sw. IX-40 on 24 Jun 1887 and recorded "eeF; pS; R; bet 2 stars." The discovery was communicated directly to Dreyer (given as list VI in the NGC), but the position in his 9th list (published in 1890) is just off the north edge of UGC 9439.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/18/93): faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, 1.2'x0.8', weakly concentrated.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb