John Herschel discovered NGC 5745 = h3579 on 5 Jun 1836 and recorded "vF; E; pslbM; 20"." His single observation is an exact match with MCG -02-38-004.

400/500mm - 17.5" fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated 4:3 ~E-W. Weak concentration to a small, brighter core. A mag 14 star lies 1.6' SW of center. Situated near the midpoint of mag 9.3 SAO 158769 7' NW and mag 10 SAO 158779 10' SE and 1 degree WNW of mag 5.3 Mu Librae. This galaxy is an unusual dust lane elliptical, though this structure was not seen.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb