John Herschel discovered NGC 5860 = h1906 on 17 Apr 1830 and logged "F' R' gbM; 20"." His position (measured on two consecutive sweeps) matches UGC 9717. This is a merged double system with two nuclei.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): faint, small, round, 30" diameter, small bright core. A mag 14 star is 1.1' NNE. Follows an arc of three mag 13 stars aligned NW-SE; the closest star of the three is 2.2' SW.

600/800mm - 24" (7/1/16): at 500x; NGC 5860 is a merged pair of compact ellipticals in a common halo with the nuclei separated by only 9"! Overall the glow was fairly faint, fairly small, round and punctuated by a small bright nucleus (the southern component). The northern nucleus (listed in NED as NGC 5860 NED02) was fainter and quasi-stellar, perhaps 3"-4" diameter, and cleanly separated at 500x. A wide, equal pair of mag 13.3/13.4 stars lies 3' WNW and a third mag 13 star is 2' SW.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/18): at 488x; the small bright core of NGC 5860 appeared slightly elongated, ~25" diameter, and was surrounded by a low surface brightness halo of ~35"-40". The core contained twin nuclei that were quite prominent and easily resolved at 9" separation. The southern nucleus was quite bright and very small, ~4" diameter. The fainter northern nucleus (14th mag?) was stellar or quasi-stellar (diameter at most 2"). A mag 15.4 star is 1.0' NNE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb