DeLisle Stewart discovered IC 3253 = D.S. 363 on a plate taken in 1901 at Harvard's Arequipa Station. He noted "eF, vL, vE at 20°, lbM." Based on photographs taken at the Helwan Observatory in 1919-20, IC 3253 was described as "F, 2.5' x 1', E 25°; compact spiral with fant sharp ncl like a star, the whorls are fine and have dark lanes between them."

NED notes: IC 3253 has the standard morphology of a multiple-armed spiral pattern in a highly inclined galaxy of late-luminosity class, of the M101 type.

400/500mm - 18" (5/28/06): very faint, fairly large, ~2'x0.8' SSW-NNE, very ill-defined glow without a well defined edge, low surface brightness, broad concentration but no core. Viewed at a low elevation west of the meridian, which may have compromised the view.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb