Ormond Stone discovered NGC 3313 = LM 1-176 in 1886 with the 26" refractor at Leander McCormick Observatory. His rough position (nearest min of RA) is a good match with ESO 501-050. Herbert Howe measured an accurate position with the 20" refractor at Denver around the turn of the century and noted the "* 15 north 3 arcseconds is really south of the nebula." But I'm not sure what star either observer was referring to!

400/500mm - 18" (4/10/04): fairly bright, large, round. Sharply concentrated with a small very bright core surrounded by a large, low surface brightness halo, ~1.5'-2' in diameter, which fades into the background. Outlying member of the Hydra I cluster and member of the group LGG 209 along with NGC 3331 and NGC 3335. On photos, this is a beautiful, face-on barred spiral with an inner ring and two main long spiral arms.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb