William Herschel discovered NGC 3611 = H II-521 = h849 on 27 Jan 1786 (sweep 514) and recorded "F, vS, iF, er." A second observation on 15 Apr 1786 (sweep 552) noted "vF, iF, smbM." WH found this galaxy again on the short sweep 675 on 30 Dec 1786 and recorded II-626 = NGC 3604 as "pB, S, lE, mbM." His position is 1.0 tmin too far west. So, NGC 3611 = NGC 3604. JH made two observations, first recording "B; S; R smbM; has a * 10m, 60° np, dist 3'."

Finally, David Todd found NGC 3611 = Todd 1 on 3 Nov 1877 in his search for trans-Neptunian planet. Todd's offsets for nearby stars match this galaxy.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/22/96): moderately bright, elongated 2:1 SSW-NNE, 1.2'x0.8'. Fairly sharp concentration with a rounder 30" core and a bright nearly stellar nucleus offset to the north side of the core. A mag 11 star is 3.2' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb