William Herschel discovered NGC 2811 = H II-505 = h580 = h3151 on 31 Dec 1785 (sweep 503) and recorded "pB, S, lE from sp to nf, suddenly mbM." John Herschel called it (from Slough) "pB; E to n f; psbM; 60"." Observing at the Cape, he wrote "pB; mE; psvmbM; 40" l." In the LdR observations, the star at the northeast edge was mentioned twice.

300/350mm - 13.1" (12/22/84): moderately bright, edge-on streak 4:1 SSW-NNE, brighter core, stellar nucleus. A faint mag 14.5 star is embedded in the NE tip 0.6' from center.

400/500mm - 18" (3/30/05): the first object I took a look at was SN 2005am in NGC 2811, discovered on 22 Feb 2005. The SN peaked near mag 13.5, but appeared significantly fainter. Coincidentally, the SN makes a very close pair with a brighter mag 14.5 star (less than 10"). Generally only this star was visible, but occasionally I could see the supernova close NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb