William Herschel discovered NGC 5951 = H II-654 on 19 Mar 1787 (sweep 720) and recorded "F, E about 1 1/2' long from np to sf, but nearer the meridian." His position is less than 2' southeast of UGC 9895.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/7/94): faint, moderately large, edge-on 5:1 SSW-NNE, 3.0'x0.6', fairly low surface brightness, broad concentration with slightly brighter middle and very faint extensions. Located 7.0' SW of mag 8.9 SAO 101619. NGC 5953/NGC 5954 pair is 17' NE.

600/800mm - 24" (6/8/13): fairly faint to moderately bright, large, excellent thin edge-on N-S, 2.4'x0.4'. Brighter along a thin strip of the major axis (like a very thin bar) and brightens slightly in the central 0.3'. The extensions fade out towards the tips. First in the KTG 62 triplet with NGC 5953/5954 = Arp 91 = VV 244 17' NE. Located 7' SW of a mag 9.1 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb