John Herschel discovered NGC 3059 = h3205 on 23 Mar 1835 and recorded "F; L; irreg R; glbM; 3'; many vS stars near and in it." His position (corrected in a list of errata at the end of the CGH) matches ESO 037-007.

600/800mm - 24" (4/12/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 200x appears fairly bright, fairly large, slightly elongated. Appears to have a central bar or an elongated core (barred spiral). At moments I caught a glimpse of a faint stellar nucleus. The halo is large, ~2.5'x2.0' and seems mottled. Surrounded by a number of stars in a rich star field and situated 5' ESE of a mag 9 star. I accidentally forgot to check this object off from the previous night so it was still on my observing list, though I suspected it had been seen earlier.

24" (4/11/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 260x appears fairly bright, large, slightly elongated, ~3.0'x2.5', weak concentration except for a small elongated core or bar (this is a face-on barred spiral). Overall the surface brightness is fairly low, but fairly impressive due to its large size and central bar. The galaxy is surrounded by a number of mag 13 stars. A mag 8.9 star (HD 85642) lies 5' WNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb