William Herschel discovered NGC 7218 = H II-897 = h2150 on 6 Sep 1793 (sweep 1050) and recorded "pB, lE, r, about 1 1/2' long, 1 1/4' br." His position is fairly accurate.

200/250mm - 8" (7/24/82): faint, moderately large, elongated SW-NE, brighter core.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/15/90): moderately bright, fairly large, oval 2:1 SW-NE, 2.0'x1.0', broadly concentrated halo. Two mag 12.5/13.5 are just following; the brighter star is 1.0' E of center and the fainter star is at the NE tip.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb