William Herschel discovered NGC 5845 = H III-511, along with NGC 5846 and NGC 5839, on 24 Feb 1786 (sweep 532). He recorded, "..with one preceding NGC 5846] and 5' more north, and vF, R. I saw also a third small one preceding NGC 5839]." His position is 3' too far north-northeast, but his position for NGC 5839 is very good. John Herschel made no observations, but it was measured on 4 nights by d'Arrest with the 11" refractor at Copenhagen.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/10/91): fairly faint, extremely small, round, very small very bright core, extremely compact, about 20" diameter. Appears like the bright nucleus of a galaxy without a halo. Member of the NGC 5846 group with NGC 5846 8' ESE and NGC 5839 10' W.

600/800mm - 24" (6/23/17): at 260x; bright, small, roundish, 25"x20". Cntains a very bright, high surface brightness nucleus surrounded by a low surface brightness halo. Situated halfway between NGC 5846/5846A 7' ESE and NGC 5839 8' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb