Joseph Lunt discovered IC 5171 visually in 1900 while searching for Brorsen's Comet with the 18-inch f/15 refractor of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. His RA is nearly 30 seconds too large, but the identification is certain.

600/800mm - 30" (10/9/15 - OzSky): at 394x; fairly bright, fairly large, edge-on 5:1 NNW-SSE, 2.0'x0.4'. The northwest end of the galaxy seems fainter than the southeast, or perhaps the dimmer outer portion extends further. A mag 12.3 star is 2' SE and two additional mag 12.5 and 13.5 stars are 4' and 5' SE, respectively. IC 5181 lies 25' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb