William Herschel discovered NGC 3462 = H II-16 = h794 on 23 Jan 1784 (sweep 102) and recorded "a small cometic nebula. I am not sure whether it is cometic or not." On 17 Apr 1830 (sweep 250), John Herschel wrote, "vF; S; R: psbM; 12"."

David Todd also picked up this galaxy on 13 Nov 1877 and recorded it as #5 in his search for a trans-Neptunian planet (AN 2698). The surrounding field stars are an exact match.

400/500mm - 18" (3/29/03): fairly faint, fairly small, nearly round, 0.8'x0.7', very small bright core, stellar nucleus.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb