William Herschel discovered NGC 3074 = H III-542 = h660 on 28 Mar 1786 (sweep 549) and recorded "cF, L, iF. Part of it 5' long and 4' br." CH's reduced position is 8 sec of RA preceding UGC 5366, although his size estimate is much too large. John Herschel measured an accurate position (used in NGC) on 11 Mar 1831 (sweep 331) and wrote, "eF; R; vgvlbM; 60"; has a * 10m in parallel, dist 7'.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/18/98): faint, moderately large, round. Appears as a diffuse, low surface brightness glow, ~1.5' diameter with only a weak concentration to a slightly brighter core. A mag 14.5 star lies 1.9' NE of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb