William Herschel discovered NGC 5718 = H III-550 = h1862 on 30 Apr 1786 (sweep 558) and recorded "vF, S, preceding and in a line with 2 B stars." His position is 2' south of this double system and the two stars are collinear with the brighter eastern component UGC 9459. Neither Herschel noticed IC 1042 close west.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/8/91): faint, fairly small, elongated 4:3 E-W, weak concentration. Located 1.3' SW of a mag 10 star that detracts from viewing. A number of mag 13-14 stars are within 3'. Forms a close contact pair (Arp 171) with IC 1042 off the west edge. IC 1042 is very faint, very small, low even surface brightness.

600/800mm - 24" (6/18/12): moderately bright, fairly small, oval 3:2 or 4:3 E-W, ~35"x25", large bright core, brighter along the major axis. Forms a double system (Arp 171) with IC 1042 ("fairly faint, fairly small, round, 24" diameter, weak concentration"), just 1.0' WNW. A mag 10.7 star is 1.2' NE and detracts a bit. NGC 5718 is the brightest member in the poor group MKW 8 and over 20 members were tracked down within 30' of NGC 5718.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb