William Herschel discovered NGC 3294 = H I-164 = h724 on 17 Mar 1787 (sweep 713) and recorded "cB, E from 30° np to sf, 3 or 4' long and 1 1/2' br, easily resolvable, almost uniformly bright." Caroline's reduced position is 20 sec of RA east of UGC 5753. On 11 Mar 1831 (sweep 331), John Herschel noted, "pB; mE; glbM; 2' l, 45" br."

On 5 Mar 1851, LdR and Bindon Stoney recorded "an appendage at south side. LdR thought at times the nebula extended beyond this." The sketch shows a single spiral arm on the west side, curling clockwise to the south.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/13/91): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 5:2 NW-SE, large brighter core but no nucleus. A mag 14 star is 2.5' W and a mag 11 star 4.8' SSW. Located 5.5' WSW of mag 9 SAO 62151. NGC 3304 lies 18' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb