John Herschel discovered NGC 5217 = h1634 on 7 May 1826 and recorded "vF; S; R: bM." His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/30/92): fairly faint, fairly small, round, evenly concentrated down to a small bright core. Forms a pair with IC 897 3.2' ESE. The companion appeared extremely faint, very small. I could only glimpse this object for moments with averted vision but it appeared very elongated 3:1 SW-NE and extremely thin.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb