John Herschel discovered NGC 2996 = h3187 on 23 Mar 1835 and logged "vF; S; has a * 20 m 1' following. There is nothing at his position but 33 sec of RA east is ESO 566-012. Herbert Howe corrected the RA in his Nov 1900 list of NGC corrections (repeated in the IC 2 notes). He also noted that JH's description of a mag 20 star 1' following is in error, although a mag 10 star follows by 4 sec of RA and 0.3' north.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/1/00): fairly faint, fairly small, round, 40" diameter. Gradually increases to a brighter core and occasional faint stellar nucleus. View hampered somewhat by a mag 10.5 star just 1.1' NE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb