Edward Pickering discovered NGC 6565 = HN 42 on 14 Jul 1880 with the 15-inch refractor at Harvard College Observatory. NGC 6565 was the second of 17 planetaries he found using a direct-vision spectroscope attached to the large refractor. He announced the discovery of the first dozen in Sidereal Messenger, Oct 1882. Compared to NGC 6644, which was discovered the next night, NGC 6565 was "somewhat fainter, but with a larger disk" (The Observatory, 1881).

Based on Crossley photographs at Lick, Curtis (1918) reported NGC 6565 as "a minute oval ring 10"x8" in p.a. about 5°. Considerably fainter along the major axis, and the center is relatively vacant."

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/17/85): at 166x and UHC filter; moderately bright, small, round, clearly non-stellar, 10" diameter, high surface brightness. Easy at 360x without filter, appears slightly elongated NW-SE, no central star visible. Similar view on 8/11/85.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/17/01): picked up at 100x as fuzzy mag 12 star. At 500x in good seeing, I had an excellent view of a crisp, slightly elongated 10" disc with an irregular surface brightness. In steadier moments, annularity was evident and there appeared to be a tiny darker hole in the center with a brighter rim but no hint of a central star. NGC 6565 is situated within a rich Sagittarius star field with a few faint stars within 1' and several brighter stars in the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb