Joseph Lunt discovered IC 5181 visually around 1900, during a search for Brorsen's Comet with the 18-inch f/15 refractor at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. IC 5181 is generally attached to ESO 289-001 = PGC 68317, though Lunt's RA is nearly 1 minute greater and his declination 7' further north, closer to fainter NGC 7232A. But since PGC 68317 is much brighter, the identification is probably more likely. This galaxy was found again on Bruce plates taken from Arequipa, Peru and reported as new in the list of 1659 nebulae published in Volume 72 of the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory (1913).

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/11/85): moderately bright, elongated spiral with bulging brighter core and fainter extensions SW-NE. Located 14' SSW of mag 7.6 SAO 231040 and 8.6' SW of mag 8.5 SAO 231041. Surprisingly bright for an IC galaxy and easily visible for so low an elevation from Northern California.

600/800mm - 30" (10/9/15 - OzSky): at 394x; very bright, large, very elongated 4:1 WSW-ENE, 2.0'x0.5', narrow lens shape, sharply concentrated with a small, intense core. NGC 7232A lies 8.2' NNE and IC 5171 is 25' WSW. IC 5181 is a member of the NGC 7213 group, which includes NGC 7232, 7233 and IC 5170, among others. NGC 7232A appeared fairly faint to moderately bright, fairly large. thin edge-on 5:1 WNW-ESE, 1.6'x0.3', weakly concentrated with no defined core. A mag 8.5 star (HD 210796) lies just 2.4' SE, nearly along the direction of the major axis, and detracts a bit from viewing. In addition, mag 7.7 HD 210795 is also in the field 5.6' NNE!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb