William Herschel discovered NGC 3511 = H V-39, along with NGC 3513, on 21 Dec 1786 (sweep 660), and recorded "vF, mE, vgbM, about 8' long and 3' br, near the parallel but about 10° sp to nf."

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/1/95): fairly bright, large, very elongated 3:1 WSW-ENE, 4.0'x1.4'. Broad concentration to a larger brighter core. The galaxy is bracketed by a mag 13 star at the ENE end and a mag 14 star at the WSW tip. Forms a pair with NGC 3513 10.8' SE. A mag 9.5 star (SAO 179479) is 5' S, roughly midway between the galaxies.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/18/15): at 488x; very bright, very large, elongated 3:1 WSW-ENE, 5'x1.5'. Well concentrated with a large bright oval core that gradually increases to a small bright nucleus and stellar pip. The region surrounding the core is mottled, due to slightly brighter regions and dust patches. An ill defined broad spiral arm is on the west side of galaxy and curved from north to south. A mag 14 star, 2.0' SW of center, was barely off the southwest end of this arm. A bright patch is 1' SW of center (not part of the arm), and just to its north was a relatively large darker (dust) region. A second broad arm arc was visible at the east end of the galaxy. It made a sharp curve clockwise, passing just inside a mag 13 star at the eastern tip. NGC 3513 lies 11' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb