William Herschel discovered NGC 5958 = H II-399 on 11 Apr 1785 (sweep 397) and recorded "pF, pL, bM, iR, r." This was the second to last of the 72 galaxies he discovered that night, his most productive ever.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): fairly faint, fairly small, round, 0.8' diameter, moderate even surface brightness. A mag 12 star is 3.8' E and a mag 15 star 2.0' S of center. Located 11' WSW of mag 8.9 SAO 83900.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb