William Herschel discovered NGC 5468 = H III-286 = h1745 on 5 Mar 1785 (sweep 380) and recorded "vF, L, brightest towards the north, and eF towards the southern borders." John Herschel made the single observation "vF; vL; R; gbM" and measured an accurate position.

R.J. Mitchell, observing with LdR's 72" on 29 Mar 1856, recorded "1745 [NGC 5468] has a nucleus, light very patchy, 3 stars in edge; vF. Query, spiral with a right-handed twist. About 4' following is a S, pB, E knot." The object following is NGC 5472.

200/250mm - 8" (6/29/84): very faint, moderately large, very diffuse, elongated ~E-W. Located 4' NNW of a mag 8.3 star. A mag 10 star 11.9' SSE is collinear with NGC 5468 and the mag 8 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/8/96): fairly faint, fairly large, round, 2.5' diameter. The low but irregular surface brightness halo has a hint of mottling or structure. Broad concentration to a ill-defined core and occasional small brighter nucleus. Mag 8.3 SAO 139737 4.2' SSE detracts from viewing. Forms a pair with NGC 5472 5.0' E.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/18): at 488x; NGC 5468 is a bright, fairly large 3-armed spiral! It appeared sharply concentrated with a very bright small nucleus and a 2'-2.5' halo containing two arms and a detached segment of an arm. One arm is nearly attached to the nucleus at its south side. This arm was easily visible as it rotated counterclockwise to the west and separated from the core, ending due west of center [by 0.6']. A low contrast arm begins just north of the nucleus and extends a short distance directly east. A faint 5" HII knot is just north of this arm. Finally a detached, arm segment, oriented WSW to ENE, floats in the south side of the halo. An easily visibile HII knot, ~8" diameter, is at its SW end. Forms a pair with NGC 5472 5' E. LEDA 1043616, a very low surface brightness galaxy, was picked up 6.4' SW. Mag 8.3 HD 123265 lies 4.3' SSE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb