William Herschel discovered NGC 5318 = H III-422 = h1679 on 2 May 1785 (sweep 406) and recorded "Two, eF, stellar, the time and number taken between them. The northern one is the faintest; distance about 4 or 5' not far from the meridian." His position (CH's reduction) is 5' south of NGC 5318 = UGC 8751, the brightest galaxy in the group, and 2' southwest of NGC 5321 = CGCG 190-065. The separation of these two galaxies is 4.6' with a position angle of 160°, matching his description, though the northern galaxy (NGC 5318) is brighter. On 3 May 1785 (sweep 407), he noted a nebula he logged as "Suspected, vF, i and vS, but 240 made it appear more like a small patch". His position is just 6 sec of east of NGC 5318, but he didn't connect this with his observation of 1074 and 1075 just the night before.

JH made two observations, recording on sweep 337 "pB; S; R; psbM; 15"; the second of 3 [with NGC 5312 and 5321]." His position is accurate. See notes on NGC 5321. R.J. Mitchell, observing NGC 5318 on 27 Mar 1856, discovered nearby NGC 5319 as well as the two close companions to NGC 5318 -- MCG +06-30-097 0.9' NNW and MCG +06-30-095, 1.9' NNW. These were not assigned separate GC or NGC designations.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/22/93): moderately bright, fairly small, round, prominent core, stellar nucleus. Forms a pair with NGC 5321 4' S. NGC 5312 lies 10' SW.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/15/10): bright, fairly large, oval 2:1 NNW-SSE, 1.0'x0.5', bright core, stellar nucleus, high surface brightness. This galaxy is the brightest in a group with 7 galaxies picked up in the 510x field (6 in a 10' string oriented NNW to SSE). The closest two companions, MCG +06-30-097 and MCG +06-30-095 (incorrectly identified as NGC 5319 in several sources), are located 52" NNW and 1.9' NNW, respectively. These two companions were described and sketched using Lord Rosse's 72", but did not receive NGC numbers.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb