William Herschel discovered NGC 3513 = H V-40 on 21 Dec 1786 (sweep 660) and recorded "vF, mE, vlbM, about 7' l and 3 or 4' br in the middle, about 10 or 15° from sp to nf near the parallel. His position matches ESO 502-014 = PGC 33410, so the identification is certain, but the description is virtually identical to that of NGC 3511, which was the previous object in the sweep! So, there was apparently a mistake in copying the description for NGC 3511 twice.

Based on a photograph taken with the 30-inch Reynolds reflector between 1912-14, Harold Knox-Shaw stated it was a "S-Shaped spiral".

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/1/95): fairly faint, moderately large, 2.5'x2.0', irregular surface brightness, only a slight central brightening. A mag 13.5 star is 1.7' E of center. A line of three equally spaced mag 11 stars lies about 4' S. Forms a pair with NGC 3511 10.8' NW.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/18/15): at 488x and 610x; this superb barred spiral has a strong bright bar oriented northwest to southeast. It is brighter along a narrow spine and contains a slightly brighter stellar nucleus. A prominent spiral arm is attached to the bar at the southeast end and sweeps sharply to the north. This well defined arm is relatively narrow and contains a small bright knot near the north end of the arm. A second arm is attached at the northwest end of the bar. This narrow arm shoots due south and rotates nearly 180° clockwise to the east on the south side of galaxy. It is slightly more separated from the central region than the northern arm and is patchy or knotty near the eastern end. Overall, the size is roughly 2.5'x2.0', extending northwest to southeast. A mag 15 star is 1.2' W of center, a mag 13 star is 1.7' E of center and a mag 17 star is just off the north side of the galaxy.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb