William Herschel discovered NGC 5864 = H II-585 = h1907 on 27 May 1786 (sweep 567) and noted "F, cS." JH made 3 observations and first recorded (sweep 143) "pB; S; E; has a * 14m closely following."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/10/91): fairly bright, moderately large, elongated 3:1 WSW-ENE, 2.0'x0.6, small bright core. A mag 14 star is 30" ESE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb