John Herschel discovered NGC 5418 = h1731 on 24 Apr 1830 and recorded "vF; R; bM; well seen." His position matches UGC 8946.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/8/96): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, 1.0'x0.5'. Only a weak concentration to a slightly brighter core. No foreground stars lie within 5' of galaxy. NGC 5417 is in the same low power field 21' N and NGC 5405 lies 17' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb