William Herschel discovered NGC 3248 = H II-347 = h713 on 10 Apr 1785 (sweep 394) and noted "pB, S, bM, r." His position is a good match with UGC 5669. John Herschel observed it on 3 sweeps, calling it "F" on 24 Feb 1827 (sweep 59) and "pB" on 25 Mar 1830 (sweep 244). The Slough Catalogue has a typo; read H. II-347 for H. II-374. He corrected the error in the General Catalogue.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/25/95): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, 0.8x0.4, sharp concentration with a bright prominent core and stellar nucleus. A mag 13.5 star lies 1.7' S of center. Located 6.5' S of mag 9.1 SAO 81359.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb