George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 3005 on 25 Jan 1851. He labeled it "Gamma" on a sketch of the NGC 2998 group. Dreyer gave a more complete description on 1 Apr 1878, "vF, pS, E nnp ssf." His offset from NGC 2998 (388.5" in PA 62.5°) points exactly to MCG +07-20-054 = PGC 28232, although the RA in the NGC is 10 sec too large (error carried over from NGC 2998).

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/8/91): extremely faint and small, round. Located 3.7' SSE of mag 8.4 SAO 43053. This member of the NGC 2998 group lies just north of a line connecting NGC 2998 6.4' SW and NGC 3008.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/14/12): moderately bright and large, elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, ~0.6'x0.2', broad concentration. Forms the north vertex of a quartet with NGC 2998, 3006 and 3008. Located 3.7' SSE of mag 8.9 HD 84830, so I kept the bright star outside the field. The nearest galaxy is NGC 3008, situated 3.9' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb