John Herschel found NGC 5923 = h1921 on 6 May 1828 and logged "F; pL; lE; vgbM." JH made a total of 4 observations (including sweep 151), with size estimates of 40" and 60". Because of his father's poor position for NGC 5922 = H III-661, he assumed his observation was new and reported it as a "Nova". So, NGC 5922 = NGC 5923. By historical precedence, the primary designation should be NGC 5922, but this galaxy is known as NGC 5923 due to the unambiguous position.

On sweep 151, he also made an observation of what he assumed was H III-661 at ~4' south of the NGC 5923. Close to this position is a 17" pair of 16 mag stars. This is perhaps what JH took for H III-661, though there is no description and perhaps h1922 is just a empty placeholder for his father's number. See Corwin's identification notes for more.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): faint, moderately large, round, 1.5' diameter, low surface brightness, broad weak concentration.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb