William Herschel discovered NGC 5728 = H I-184 = h1866 on 7 May 1787 (sweep 732) and recorded "cB, pL, E from sp to nf, mbM." His position is accurate. On his first observation, JH called this object "pB; mE; bM, almost to nucleus; has a * 10m 90° south." On a second sweep, he logged "F; R; pgbM; 20" has a * 15 nf; certainly not of first and hardly of second class. Sky perfectly clear."

300/350mm - 13.1" (6/18/85): moderately bright, very elongated 3:1 SSW-NNE. Contains a bright core and possible stellar nucleus. A faint mag 14.5 star is at the southern tip 1.2' from center. An extremely faint 15th magnitude star is suspected just north of the core 0.4' from center. NGC 5716 lies 23' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb