John Herschel discovered NGC 3278 = h3268 on 2 Mar 1835 and recorded "F; S; R; sp a coarse double star." His position and description matches ESO 317-043.

400/500mm - 18" (2/19/09): brighter of a pair with NGC 3276 located 5' W. At 175x it appeared fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, 0.6'x0.3', contains a slightly brighter core. Located just SW of a wide, bright pair (h4326 = 9.8/10.6 at 39").

Notes by Steve Gottlieb