William Herschel discovered NGC 5798 = H III-131 = h1892 on 16 May 1784 (sweep 218) and recorded "vF, E. It contains two stars. It precedes, and is very near a star; so that without looking a little while, it might be taken for a brush to the star; the nebulosity is however not at all connected with it." His description is a perfect fit with UGC 9628. On 1 May 1854, LdR (or assistant) described "has a curved form; bet 2 star sp nf and in contact with them..."

300/350mm - 13.1" (6/18/85): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~SW-NE. A mag 12.5 star is just off the NE end 0.9' from center and a very faint star is involved at the SW end. Possibly slightly mottled with an asymmetric appearance. NGC 5789 (similar redshift) lies 21' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb