William Herschel discovered NGC 5965 = H II-762 = h1931 on 5 May 1788 (sweep 842) and recorded "pF, pL, E." His RA is 44 sec too small (systematic offset on the sweep) and his dec 3' too small (same offset as NGC 5963). JH called it "F; L; R; 40"." The NGC position (from d'Arrest?) is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/22/93): fairly bright, fairly large, edge-on 5:1 WSW-ENE, 2.5'x0.5, small bright core. Located 5.0' WSW of a mag 10 star. Largest and brightest of four in a group with NGC 5963 8' SSW.

600/800mm - 24" (7/8/13): bright, large, thin edge-on ~7:1 SW-NE, 4.0'x0.6', well concentrated with a very bright core. Sharper light cut-off on the following side due to dust. 2MASX J15335352+5641268 was picked up just 1.3' W of center as a very faint, extremely small glow, ~12"x9".

Notes by Steve Gottlieb