William Herschel discovered NGC 3021 = H I-115 = h645 on 7 Dec 1785 (sweep 487) and recorded "cB, pL, lE, iF, mbM." On 22 Jan 1827 (sweep 51), John Herschel called this galaxy "pB; R; bM; has a * 10m 20° sf, dist 30"." A sketch made with LdR's 72" in 1863 shows a spiral arm of the east side, curling around towards the west.

300/350mm - 13.1" (3/3/84): fairly bright, elongated WNW-ESE. A mag 10 star is 1.1' SE of center. Located 30' NE of NGC 3003.

600/800mm - 24" (4/20/14): bright, fairly small, oval 3:2 WNW-ESE, 0.9'x0.6', small bright core, stellar nucleus, the halo has an irregular surface brightness. A mag 11 star is 1' SE and a mag 14 star is at the north edge. NGC 3013 lies 10' W and NGC 3003 is 20' WSW. Member of the USGC U268 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb