William Herschel discovered NGC 5813 = H I-127 = h1896 on 24 Feb 1786 (sweep 532) and recorded "cB, pS, mbM." His position is accurate. JH made the single observation "B; R; psbM; 40"."

200/250mm - 8" fairly faint, small, round, small bright nucleus. Surrounded by four stars of similar magnitudes!

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/10/91): bright, fairly small, slightly elongated 4:3 NW-SE, high surface brightness, increases to a small bright core, substellar nucleus. Located at the exact center of a diamond asterism formed by two mag 12 stars 2.8' W and 2.6' E and two mag 12/13 stars 2.9' N and 3.0' S! NGC 5813 is a member of the NGC 5846 group with NGC 5814 5' SE. Located 35' SW of 109 Virginis (V = 4.4).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb