William Herschel discovered NGC 3489 = H II-101 = h806 on 8 Apr 1784 (sweep 187) and recorded "pB, S, mbM than at the extremes." John Herschel made two observations at Slough, while four were made at Birr Castle. JH and d'Arrest commented this galaxy should have been placed in William's 1st class.

200/250mm - 8" (12/6/80): fairly bright, bright core.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/1/95): very bright, moderately large, elongated 5:3 WSW-ENE, 2.5'x1.5'. Unusually bright, round core dominates view with an almost stellar nucleus with direct vision. The halo nearly reaches to a mag 13 star 1.5' SW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb