John Herschel discovered NGC 2280 = h3062 on 1 Feb 1837 and noted "pF; L; irreg R; or lE; gbM; 2'." His position (single sweep) matches ESO 427-002 = PGC 19531.

300/350mm - 13.1" (12/22/84): fairly bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, bright core. Located 3.9' SE of a mag 10 star. Almost collinear with a second mag 10 star 5.4' NW. NGC 2272 lies 30' WNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb