George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 2511 and 2510 on 31 Jan 1851. The group was sketched on 26 Feb 1851 with NGC 2511 labelled Beta and precise offsets measured from NGC 2513. Heinrich d'Arrest independently discovered the galaxy in 1862 (#77 in AN 1500) and called it a "Doppelnebel" with h483 NGC 2513]. John Herschel mistakenly credited d'Arrest with the discovery in the GC but Dreyer included both observers in the NGC.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/13/88): faint, small, slightly elongated, almost even surface brightness. In a group with NGC 2513 3' NE and NGC 2510 5.6' SSW. Located on the Canis Minor-Cancer border.

600/800mm - 24" (3/22/14): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 40"x20", weak concentation. Located 2.7' SW of NGC 2513.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb