William Herschel discovered NGC 2389 = H III-703 = h449 on 5 Feb 1788 (sweep 807) and noted as "vF; vS; perhaps a patch of star." His position falls just 1' north of UGC 3872 = PGC 21109. On 4 Feb 1793 (sweep 1031) he confirmed it was a nebula and logged "vF, bM, R." Herschel also discovered NGC 2385 and 2388 on this sweep. Dreyer misassigned H III-901 to NGC 2389.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/23/85): this galaxy is the brightest in the NGC 2389 group. Fairly faint, slightly elongated ~E-W, bright core. Third of three in a tight subgroup with NGC 2385 and NGC 2388.

400/500mm - 18" (1/13/07): brightest galaxy in a group. At 280x appeared moderately bright, fairly small, oval 5:3 ~E-W, ~1.1'x0.7' though the outer halo fades into the background gradually so difficult to trace with averted vision. Broad, weak concentration with no well-defined core althought there is a small brighter nucleus with direct vision. Trio with NGC 2388 3.4' SW and NGC 2385 7.7' WSW. Also, an unusual edge-on UGC 3879 13' SE (similar redshift) appeared extremely faint, small (viewed only the core of this thin edge-on), 15"-20" diameter. A couple of mag 14-14.5 stars lies 1' to 1.5' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb