William Herschel discovered NGC 2318 = H VII-14 = h422 = h3070 on 8 Feb 1785 (sweep 370) and logged "a cluster of stars above 20' in dia, the stars much scattered." John Herschel observed this object at both Slough, England and at the Cape of Good Hope. At the Cape he described "A large region full of scattered stars forming a cluster of which the chief (=8 m) taken. It seems, however to be only a clustering part of the milky way which here comes on rather suddenly." His position corresponds with mag 8.6 SAO 152208 at 06 59 28.4 -13 41 49 (J2000). RNGC classifies this number as nonexistent (Type 7).

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/1/03): this is just a weak enhancement of mag 11-13 stars in a Milky Way field, perhaps only noticed by Herschel because of the mag 8.2 SAO 152208 on the NW side (which he used as a position). Seems roughly 10' in size and circular, although there are no real borders. Does not stand out in the field, even at 64x with a 31 Nagler, although the background Milky Way glow does seem a bit enhanced over the surrounding field. Listed as nonexistent in the RNGC.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb