John Herschel discovered NGC 5786 = h3585 on 5 Jun 1834 and recorded "F; mE. In field with and np Kappa Centauri. Place very rude." His position is 1' too far southeast. MCG does not label -07-31-004 as NGC 5786, but the identification is certain.

300/350mm - 12.5" (6/24/06 - Haleakala Crater): at 180x appeared fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 5:3 SW-NE, 1.6'x1.0', broad concentration to a relatively large slightly brighter core with a small, sharply concentrated nucleus. A mag 13 star is at the NE end and a similar star is at or just off the SW end. Located 6' NW of mag 3.1 k Centauri, which makes viewing difficult as the galaxy is nearly lost in the glare of the bright star.

400/500mm - 22" (6/28/06 - Hawaii): at 200x; fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 2:1 WSW-ENE, 1.6'x0.8', weak concentration to a small brighter core, surrounded by several mag 13-14 stars. Overpowered by *3.1 k Cen just 6' SE and it helped to place the star outside the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb