William Herschel discovered NGC 2979 = H III-521 = h631 on 25 Mar 1786 (sweep 544) and recorded "cF, pS, lE." His position was just off the northwest edge of MCG -02-25-012. John Herschel described it on 9 Mar 1828 (sweep 129) as "pB; R; psbM."

Frank Muller independently found this galaxy in 1886 and recorded in list II-418, "mag 14.0, 0.6' dia, vlE 200°, gbMN." Dreyer assumed this was a new object and catalogued it again as NGC 3050. His position is 9 min of RA too large, but the description (specifically the position angle) matches. So, NGC 2979 = NGC 3050.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/15/93): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 SSW-NNE, 1.5'x0.8', weak concentration. Located 5.5' SSW of a mag 10.5 star.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb