William Herschel discovered NGC 5861 = H II-192 on 9 May 1784 (sweep 210) and recorded "Faintish, pL and broad, lE, r, nearly of equal brightness throughout; the extension almost in the meridian; many stars in the field with it." His position was 2.5' too far northwest.

300/350mm - 13.1" (7/5/83): fairly large, very diffuse, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, fairly low even surface brightness. Located 2.5' NNE of a mag 10.5 star. Forms a pair with NGC 5858 9.5' NW.

600/800mm - 24" (6/21 and 6/22/17): at 375x; moderately to fairly bright, fairly large, oval 5:3 NNW-SSE, ~2.0'x1.2', broad weak concentration, slightly brighter core/nucleus. The halo exhibited evidence of spiral structure with slightly brighter and darker regions. Last in a collinear trio with NGC 5858 9.5' NW and IC 1091 19' NW.

Supernova 2017erp, discovered 8 days earlier on 13 Jun, was easily visible as a mag 13.5-14 stellar object on the SSW edge of the halo.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb