William Herschel discovered NGC 3070 = H II-59 = h659 on 15 Mar 1784 (sweep 172) and recorded "vS, cometic; There is a vB star in the fiedl with it and the nebula is the 4th in a row from the bright star both included; the two stars between are small." John Herschel noted in Jan 1828 (sweep 123), "pB; pL; R; gbM; 40"."

300/350mm - 13.1" (4/10/86): fairly faint, small, round, prominent core, stellar nucleus. Located 13' WSW of mag 7.7 SAO 98881. Forms a pair with NGC 3069 5.0' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb