William Herschel discovered NGC 3425 = H III-108 = T I-28 on 17 Apr 1784 (sweep 197) and noted "eF, eS, r." There is nothing at his position, but 30 sec of RA west and 3' north is UGC 5967 = PGC 32555.

Wilhelm Tempel couldn't find H III-108 at H's position in 1877, but instead found two nebulae and assumed one was Herschel's III-108. Dreyer chose the slightly brighter northern nebula as III-108 and catalogued T I-29 as NGC 3427. Andrew Common's NGC 3388 (found in 1880) may be a duplicate observation of NGC 3425 (equivalence suggested by Harold Corwin).

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/15/99): faint, fairly small, round, 0.7' diameter, weak concentration. View hampered by a mag 10 star 2.2' SE. This star is collinear with two mag 11/13 stars to the WSW. A faint companion off the south side was not noticed.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb