William Herschel discovered NGC 3044 = H III-254 = h652 on 13 Dec 1784 (sweep 342) and recorded "eF, mE, 3 or 5' long and near 1' br from np to sf; but not far from the parallel." One week later (sweep 348) he logged "vF; about 5' long but extremely narrow, less than 1/4' broad; from np to sf." He published a sketch in his 1811 paper (Fig. 7) as an example of "very narrow long nebulae." John Herschel measured an accurate position on 27 Jan 1832 (sweep 397) and recorded, "vF; mE, pos = 111.5°; 80" l, 15" br. Aurora in sky, even at this polar distance." The UGC, RC3 list the PA = 13°, but it should read 113°.

300/350mm - 13.1" (4/10/86): very pretty, very thin edge-on streak at 166x-214x, moderately large, brighter middle.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/8/91): fairly bright, large, edge-on 6:1 WNW-ESE, dimensions 3.5'x0.5', broadly concentration but does not contain a well-defined core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb