William Herschel discovered NGC 3057 = H III-978 on 26 Sep 1802 (sweep 1111, his second to last sweep) and recorded "eF, pL vlbM. Just north of 2 small stars are are hearly in parallel [E-W]." CH's reduced position is within 1' of UGC 5404. This object is the 500th discovery listed in Herschel's third catalogue although he left three additional ones out which exceeded the 500 limit. NGC 3057 was not found by Bigourdan.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/28/89): faint, moderately large, elongated. Two mag 13-14 stars are off the south edge.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb