William Herschel discovered NGC 3413 = H II-493 on 7 Dec 1785 (sweep 487) and noted "F, S." His RA was 20 seconds too large. The NGC position, mesured by d'Arrest, is accurate. Still, Francis Pease listed it as a new nebula in his 1920 paper based on Mt Wilson 60" plates.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/9/94): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 N-S, 1.4'x0.7', broad concentration, no nucleus. First of three in the field with NGC 3424 9.6' NE and NGC 3430 15' NE. The NGC 3395/NGC 3396 pair lies 20' NW. Based on redshift, this galaxy lies in the foreground of the grup.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb