William Herschel discovered NGC 3430 = H I-118 = h779 = 782 on 7 Dec 1785 (sweep 487) and recorded "cB, cL, iR, mbB." There was apparently an error of 1 degree with his offset from 46 UMa as NGC 3424 was the previous object in the sweep, so both would have been picked up together.

John Herschel found NGC 3430 = h779 on 6 Mar 1828 (sweep 128), logged it as a Nova with description "B; L; E; gbM; the nf of 2 [with NGC 3424]." Still looking for his father's H. I-118, he recorded it again as h782 on 3 Apr 1831 as a "Nova or I. 118" and described "B; L; the nf of 3 on a line [with NGC 3413 and NGC 3424]. The neb may possibly be I. II8 as none exists in the place indicated by my Father." JH added designations for both of his observations in the GC, as well as one for his Father's I-118. He has a long note in the GC that there was probaby a one degree error in his father's sweep. By the time of the NGC, Dreyer sorted things out and equated NGC 3430 = H. I-118 with GC 2236 and 2239, though 2233 is also an alias.

In Feb and Apr of 1855, R.J. Mitchell (Lord Rosse's observer), reported seeing a possible "dark bay" south or southwest of the nucleus. Photographs shows this is a darker gap between the core region and the southern spiral arm.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/9/94): moderately bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 SW-NE, 3.0'x1.5', only a weak broad concentration. A mag 14.5 star is off the south side 1.4' SE from the center. Three bright stars are in the field; mag 8.6 SAO 62287 6.0' NNW, mag 7.5 SAO 62291 6.6' ENE and mag 9.1 SAO 62293 7.8' ENE. Forms a striking pair with NGC 3424 6.0' WSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb