Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3250 (= GC 2109 = JH 3252, 1860 RA 10 20 26, NPD 129 13.8) is "pretty bright, pretty large, round, very gradually then pretty suddenly bright middle, 13th magnitude star at position angle of 45°". The position precesses to RA 10 26 33.0, Dec -39 56 29, right on the galaxy listed above, the description is perfect and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2825 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3250 is about 130 million light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of 100 to 145 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 2.15 by 1.6 arcmin (or 2.8 by 2.3 arcmin including its halo) (both sizes from the images below), the brighter part of the galaxy is about 80 to 85 thousand light years across, and its halo stretches across about 105 to 110 thousand light years. It is probably a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 7380 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), a straightforward calculation indicates that PGC 30790 is about 340 to 345 million light years away. However, for objects at such distances we should take into account the expansion of the Universe during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing that shows that the galaxy was about 335 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 340 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and its apparent size of about 1.1 by 0.2 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 105 to 110 thousand light years across.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2520 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30775 is about 115 to 120 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 2.2 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 75 thousand light years across.
Classification Note: Corwin points out that this is a spectacular example of a so-called "box" galaxy (one in which an X-shaped structure is seen running through the center of an edge-on spiral), which is sometimes indicated by "pec?", as above, or by a subscript "x" (_x); see NGC 7153 for an example of this type with better-quality images.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2615 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30774 is about 120 to 125 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 135 to 140 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.8 by 0.6 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 60 to 65 thousand light years across. Although not listed as such, its distance and direction suggest that it may be a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2900 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30792 is about 135 million light years away.Given that and its apparent size of about 1.65 by 0.3 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 65 thousand light years across. Although not listed as such, its distance and direction suggest that it may be a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2805 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30865 is about 130 million light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance measures of about 120 to 145 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 2.65 by 1.45 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 100 thousand light years across. Although not listed as such, its distance and direction suggest that it may be a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3251 (= GC 2110, d'Arrest, 1860 RA 10 20 29, NPD 63 11.7) is "very faint, pretty large, 3 bight stars to southwest". The second IC asks "Is this = IC 2579, (Javelle) 1158, the RA of which is exactly 1 minute greater? d'Arrest only one observation". The position of NGC 3251 precesses to RA 10 28 17.0, Dec +26 05 33, but there is nothing there, save (as noted in the IC2) for a galaxy 1 minute to the east, which fits the description for NGC 3251 (right down to the 3 stars to the southwest), and is (as Dreyer wondered) the same as IC 2579. So the galaxy listed above must be NGC 3251, and is the same as IC 2579.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 5085 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3251 is about 235 to 240 million light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 190 to 245 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.95 by 0.4 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 135 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3252 (= GC 2111 = WH III 316, 1860 RA 10 20 51, NPD 15 27.2) is "extremely faint, pretty small, much extended, mottled but not resolved". The position precesses to RA 10 32 23.1, De +73 49 52, just over 9 arcmin west northwest of the galaxy listed above, but the description fits, there is nothing else nearby, and the way Herschel's telescope was mounted made it difficult to make accurate measurements at high northern declinations, so the identification is considered certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 1155 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3252 is about 50 to 55 million light years away, in fair agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 65 to 95 million light years. Using an assumed distance of about 60 million light years and an apparent size of about 1.9 by 0.4 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 40 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3253 (= Swift list III (#55), 1860 RA 10 20 55, NPD 76 36.1) is "very faint, pretty small, round". The position precesses to RA 10 28 22.8, Dec +12 41 07, about 1.6 arcmin southwest of the galaxy, the description fits and there is nothing comparable nearby (the galaxy to its southwest being far too faint for Swift to see), so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 9690 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), a straightforward calculation indicates that NGC 3253 is about 450 million light years away. However, for objects at such distances we should take into account the expansion of the Universe during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing that shows that the galaxy was about 435 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 440 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and its apparent size of about 1.25 by 1.25 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 125 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3254 (= GC 2112 = JH 714 = WH I 72, 1860 RA 10 21 27, NPD 59 47.7) is "considerably bright, large, much extended 45°, pretty suddenly much brighter middle and nucleus". The position precesses to RA 10 29 20.3, Dec +29 29 28, almost dead center on the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation of 1650 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3254 is about 75 to 80 million light-years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 50 to 125 million light-years. Given that and its apparent size of about 4.5 by 1.2 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 100 thousand light-years across. NGC 3254 is listed as a Seyfert galaxy (type Sy 2) because of its unusually bright nucleus, which puts out as much light as the entire remainder of the galaxy, and is far brighter in ultraviolet wavelengths than in the visual images shown here (though the HST image is actually a composite of visual and infrared images, which accounts for some of the extremely red spots).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3255 (= GC 2113 = JH 3253, 1860 RA 10 21 32, NPD 149 57.8) is "a cluster, pretty small, very compressed, stars of 15th magnitude". The position precesses to RA 10 26 28.7, Dec -60 40 32, on the northwestern rim of the cluster listed above, the description fits and ther's nothing comparable nearby, so though almost lost among the thickly scattered starfield surrounding it, the identification is certain.
Note About the PGC Designation: Although, for purposes of completeness, LEDA assigns a PGC designation to the cluster, a search of the database for that designation returns no results, so it is shown in quotes.
Physical Information: The cluster is thought to be about 4700 light years away, and if so, its apparent size of about 2 arcmin would make it a little less than 3 light years in diameter. Its Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram yields an estimated age of about 200 million years. This is an unusually long time for such a small cluster to survive gravitational interactions with passing stars, so it is probably the remains of a once larger cluster.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3256 (= GC 2114 = JH 3254, 1860 RA 10 21 53, NPD 133 11.1) is "considerably bright, small, round, gradually much brighter middle". The position precesses to RA 10 27 51.6, Dec -43 53 54, within the northern outline of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: NGC 3256 is a spiral galaxy which represents a relatively late stage in the collision of two more or less equally massive galaxies at some time in the recent past. As such, it displays spectacular starburst activity in its core, and widely distended arms of material cast far from the central region. The merger of two galaxies is apparently not quite complete, as it has two nuclei, separated by about 5 arcsec, each with jets corresponding to massive bursts of star formation, or rapidly accreting supermassive black holes. Based on a recessional velocity of 2805 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), the galaxy is about 130 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with a single redshift-independent distance estimate of about 120 million light years. Given that, the apparent spread of its outer arms of about 7.25 by 2.8 arcmin corresponds to about 275 thousand light years, and the apparent diameter of about 1.4 arcmin of its central region (both sizes from the images below) corresponds to about 50 to 55 thousand light years. The five arcsecond separation of the two nuclei corresponds to about three thousand light years.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2845 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30626 is about 130 to 135 mllion light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 115 to 135 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.25 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 45 to 50 thousand light years across.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2715 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30867 is about 125 to 130 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 85 to 125 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.7 by 0.5 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 60 to 65 thousand light years across.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2715 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30873 is about 125 to 130 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.4 by 1.15 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 50 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3257 (= GC 2115 = JH 3255, 1860 RA 10 22 30, NPD 124 56.8) is "very faint, very small, round, pretty suddenly brighter middle, 1st of 4", the others being NGC 3258, 3260 and 3273. The position precesses to RA 10 28 47.3, Dec -35 39 40, right on the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing nearby save for NGC 3258 and 3260, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 3200 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3257 is about 150 million light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 115 to 225 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.4 by 1.2 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 60 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3258 (= GC 2116 = JH 3256, 1860 RA 10 22 37, NPD 124 53.1) is "considerably faint, small, round, pretty suddenly a little brighter middle, 2nd of 4", the others being NGC 3257, 3260 and 3273. The position precesses to RA 10 28 54.4, Dec -35 35 59, on the northeastern rim of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing nearby save for NGC 3257 and 3260, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2790 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3258 is about 130 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with widely separated redshift-independent distance estimates of about 70 to 305 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 3.2 by 2.9 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 120 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2735 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 30815 is about 125 to 130 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size if about 1.0 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 35 to 40 thousand light years across. Listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2140 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 83128 is about 100 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.2 by 0.4 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 35 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies, but its recessional velocity suggests that it is either a foreground galaxy, or has an unusually high "peculiar" (non-Hubble expansion) velocity for a cluster member.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2595 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 31053 is about 120 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimate of 105 to 110 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 0.75 by 0.45 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 25 to 30 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2475 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 31094 is about 115 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 65 by 120 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 0.6 by 0.4 arcmin, the central galaxy is about 20 thousand light years across, while the apparent size of about 1.55 by 0.7 arcmin for its faint outer extensions (both apparent sizes from the images below) corresponds to a span of about 50 to 55 thousand light years. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies, suggesting that the lower redshift-independent distance estimates are far too low.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 3060 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), PGC 31131 is about 140 to 145 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 50 to 130 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.5 by 0.3 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 60 to 65 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies, suggesting that the lower range of redshift-independent distance estimates are far too low.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3259 (= GC 2117 = JH 715 = WH II 870, 1860 RA 10 22 50, NPD 24 14.0) is "faint, small, round, gradually brighter middle". The position precesses to RA 10 32 40.4, Dec +65 02 58, less than an arcmin northeast of the center of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 1685 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3259 is about 75 to 80 million light years away, in good agreement with widely varying redshift-independent distance estimates of about 55 to 135 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.75 by 0.95 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 40 thousand light years across (there also appears to be an extended outer region, perhaps due to an interaction with the dwarf galaxy to its south, with an apparent size of about 3.75 by 2.1 arcmin (from the 3rd SDSS image), corresponding to a span of about 110 thousand light years). It is listed as a Seyfert galaxy (type Sy 1).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3260 (= GC 2118 = JH 3257, 1860 RA 10 22 53, NPD 124 52.6) is "very very faint, very small, round, pretty suddenly a little brighter middle, 3rd of 4", the others being NGC 3257, 3258 and 3273. The second IC notes "No doubt Sw. XI.108 is identical with this". The position precesses to RA 10 29 10.6, Dec -35 35 30, only 0.9 arcmin east northeast of the galaxy listed above, the NGC description fits and everything nearby is already accounted for by other NGC objects, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Notes: Swift's paper (Astronomische Nachrichten N^o 3517, pp. 209 - 219) lists the position of his XI #108 as 1900 RA 10 24 30, Dec -35 03.3, which precesses to RA 10 28 59.9, Dec -35 33 59, about 2 arcmin northwest of the galaxy listed above, and his description is essentially the same as that in the NGC, save for one oddity; namely, with NGC 3258 right next door, why in the world did he write "southwest of NGC 3267", which is much further away? The answer appears to be given (per Corwin) by an extensive comparison of the four papers that Swift wrote about his observations of XI #108 and another nebula (NGC 3333) which he observed on the same night. In each case, the descriptions and positions of the two nebulae are essentially the same, but there are small differences in the way Swift describes the pair in each of of the four papers. In particular, the paper Dreyer used as his reference includes a unique statement about XI #108 being southwest of NGC 3267 (which it is), but is almost certainly a mistake which should have read "east of NGC 3258"; so despite some confusion created by Swift's publishing slightly different accounts in the four papers he published, there is little if any doubt that his XI #108 is indeed NGC 3260.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2415 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3260 is about 110 to 115 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with widely varying redshift-independent distance estimates of about 115 to 260 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.4 by 1.2 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 45 thousand light years across. It is listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3261 (= GC 2119 = JH 3258, 1860 RA 10 23 03, NPD 133 56.2) is "faint, small, round, among stars". The position precesses to RA 10 29 00.5, Dec -44 39 06, well within the outline of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2565 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3261 is about 120 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 65 to 110 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 3.9 by 3.05 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 135 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3262 (= GC 2120 = JH 3260, 1860 RA 10 23 08, NPD 133 29.1) is "extremely faint, small, round". The position precesses to RA 10 29 06.7, Dec -44 12 00, almost 2.5 arcmin south of the galaxy listed above, but the description fits and the only other object in the region must be NGC 3263, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2865 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3262 is about 130 to 135 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.2 by 1.15 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 45 to 50 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3263 (= GC 2122 = JH 3261, 1860 RA 10 23 14, NPD 133 24.5) is "faint, small, much extended 280°, pretty suddenly brighter middle". The position precesses to RA 10 29 13.0, Dec -44 07 25, on the southern rim of the galaxy listed above, the description fits perfectly, and there is nothing comparable nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 3000 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3263 is about 140 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with a single redshift-independent distance estimate of about 125 to 130 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 5.3 by 1.15 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 215 thousand light years across (counting its extended eastern arm).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3264 (= GC 2124 = JH 716, 1860 RA 10 23 18, NPD 33 11.6) is "extremely faint, between 2 small (faint) stars". The position precesses to RA 10 32 18.7, Dec +56 05 22, right on the galaxy listed above, the desription fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 940 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3264 is about 40 to 45 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 40 to 80 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 2.85 by 1.2 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 35 thousand light years across.
Physical Note: LEDA lists this as a multiple galaxy, presumably assuming that SDSS J103217.22+560803.7, about 3 arcmin to its north, is a physical companion. However, other than its apparent size (about 0.25 by 0.15 arcmin) and brightness (about magnitude 21), nothing is known about that object, so whether it is an outlying part of NGC 3264, a physical companion, or not in any way connected with NGC 3264 is unknown.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3265 (= GC 2123 = JH 718 = WH III 349, 1860 RA 10 23 20, NPD 60 29.6) is "pretty faint, small, round, pretty suddenly brighter middle, star to southeast". The position precesses to RA 10 31 11.4, Dec +28 47 24, just over 1 arcmin east southeast of the galaxy listed above, the description fits perfectly and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 1320 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3265 is about 60 to 65 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 0.75 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 13 to 14 thousand light years across. In lower resolution images the galaxy appears to be a more or less normal elliptical galaxy, but its HST images, though not as high quality as might be desired, show that it is a lenticular galaxy with a complex starburst in its center, and a central "nuclear spiral" structure (whence the addition of "pec", since it is certainly a strange object).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3266 (= GC 2125 = JH 717 = WH II 871, 1860 RA 10 23 34, NPD 24 31.9) is "considerably faint, very small, round, pretty suddenly much brighter middle like a star". The position precesses to RA 10 33 21.1, Dec +64 45 01, within the eastern rim of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 1765 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3265 is about 80 to 85 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.3 by 1.0 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 30 to 35 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3267 (= GC 2126 = JH 3262, 1860 RA 10 23 34±, NPD 124 38.2±) is "extremely faint, very small, round, 1st of 4", the others being NGC 3268, 3269 and 3271. The obviously rough position precesses to RA 10 29 52.4, Dec -35 21 09, not quite 2 arcmin south southeast of the galaxy listed above, and there are several other galaxies in the neighborhood, but his "1st of 4" and the identifications of the others makes the identification listed above certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 3710 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3265 is about 170 to 175 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of about 1.4 by 0.75 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 70 thousand light years across. Listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3268 (= GC 2127 = JH 3263, 1860 RA 10 23 38±, NPD 124 39.2±) is "faint, small, round, 2nd of 4", the others being NGC 3267, 3269 and 3271. The position precesses to RA 10 29 56.4, Dec -35 22 10, about 2.8 arcmin south southwest of the galaxy listed above, but the description and "2nd of 4", combined with the identification of the other galaxies in the region, make the identification certain.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 2800 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3268 is about 130 million light years away, in good agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 85 to 230 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 3.5 by 2.9 arcmin (from the images below), it is about 130 to 135 thousand light years across. Listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3269 (= GC 2128 = JH 3264, 1860 RA 10 23 41, NPD 124 30.2) is "faint, small, round, brighter middle, 3rd of 4", the others being NGC 3267, 3268 and 3271. The position precesses to RA 10 29 59.7, Dec -35 13 10, only 0.6 arcmin northeast of the center of the galaxy above, the description fits a visual observation of the galaxy and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Discovery Note: Since the position for NGC 3269 is listed as being accurate in the NGC, and the positions for NGC 3267 and 3268 are listed as very rough, it is hardly surprising the instead of being "3rd of 4", this galaxy is actually in between the first two in terms of right ascension, and instead, well to their north. But considering the fact that there are only so many reasonably bright galaxies in the region, and all of them are accounted for by the four objects listed in the NGC as "xth of 4", there is no doubt that this is indeed one of the four.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 3755 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), NGC 3269 is about 175 million light years away, in fair agreement with redshift-independent distance estimates of about 55 to 150 million light years. Given that and its apparent size of about 2.45 by 0.8 arcmin (from the images below) it is about 125 thousand light years across. Listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies. Used by the de Vaucouleurs Atlas of Galaxy Types as an example of type (R₂')SAB(rl)a.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3270 (= GC 2129 = JH 719 = WH III 331, 1860 RA 10 23 44, NPD 64 24.5) is "considerably faint, very small, extended, gradually a little brighter middle". The position precesses to RA 10 31 28.9, Dec +24 52 29, only 0.4 arcmin northwest of the nucleus of the galaxy listed above, the description fits and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3271 (= GC 2130 = JH 3265, 1860 RA 10 23 46, NPD 124 39.1) is "pretty faint, small, extended, pretty much brighter middle, 4th of 4", the others being NGC 3267, 3268 and 3269. The position precesses to RA 10 30 04.5, Dec -35 22 04, about 4.5 arcmin nearly due west of the galaxy listed above, but the description fits and it is the only object in the region that could possibly be the "4th of 4", so the identification is certain. However, the 22 seconds of time error in Herschel's right ascension caused a failure by Stewart and Dreyer to recognize that IC 2585 was a duplicate observation of NGC 3271, whence the duplicate entry.
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin. Listed as a member of the Antlia Group of galaxies.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3272 (= GC 5526, Schultz (Nova VI), 1860 RA 10 23 58, NPD 60 48.8) is "faint, very small, irregularly round, h 721 to northeast", (JH) 721 being NGC 3277. The NGC position precesses to RA 10 31 48.6, Dec +28 28 09, almost exactly on the double star listed above (per Corwin, Schultz's actual position is within an arcsecond of the pair), Schultz's description (faint, very small, irregularly round, stellar, mottled but not resolved, magnitude 12 to 13) exactly matches the pair, and there is nothing else nearby, so the identification is certain. However, a mistaken effort to attach the observation to a "nebula" has led to some sites (e.g., SIMBAD) listing the much fainter galaxy PGC 31115 as NGC 3272, so that object is discussed in the following entry.
Note About the PGC Designation: Though not a galaxy, for purposes of completeness LEDA assigns PGC designations to all NGC objects which can be identified. Normally, the entry would show that it is a double star, but as noted above some references misidentify a much fainter galaxy as the NGC object, so LEDA lists the classification with a question mark, and unlike most such PGC designations, a search of the database actually returns a result, hence the lack of quotes in the title for this entry.
Physical Information: The southwestern star is about magnitude 13.0, and the northeastern one is about magnitude 13.5 (based on GAIA measurements of the difference in their g-band magnitudes). They have a separation of about 7 arcsec, at a position angle of about 72°.

Historical Misidentification: Although Schultz's position and description exactly match the double star that is the actual NGC 3272, some sites misidentify the NGC entry as the ten times fainter galaxy listed here. Given the fact that visual observations of galaxies make them look much fainter than stars, it is inconceivable that Schultz could have described PGC 31115 the way he described his Nova VI, so it is absolutely certain that the galaxy is not NGC 3272; and this entry simply serves as a warning about that mistake.
Physical Information: Vr 1590 km/sec, apparent size of about 0.7 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below).

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3273 (= GC 2121 = JH 3259, 1860 RA 10 24 11, NPD 124 53.8) is "very faint, very small, round, pretty suddenly a little brighter middle, 4th of 4", the others being NGC 3257, 3258 and 3260.
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3274 (= GC 2131 = JH 720 = WH II 358, 1860 RA 10 24 28, NPD 61 37.0) is "faint, pretty large, round, gradually a little brighter middle, double star to east".
Physical Information: Apparent size of about 2.5 by 1.2 arcmin (from the images below). Per the HST image caption, about 20 million light years away.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3275 (= GC 2132 = JH 3266, 1860 RA 10 24 34, NPD 126 01.4) is "faint, large, very little extended, pretty suddenly a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3276 (= GC 2133 = JH 3267, 1860 RA 10 24 58, NPD 129 13.9) is "faint, small, 8th magnitude star to west".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3277 (= GC 2134 = JH 721 = WH II 359, 1860 RA 10 25 05, NPD 60 46.2) is "considerably bright, considerably small, round, pretty gradually much brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3278 (= GC 2135 = JH 3268, 1860 RA 10 25 26, NPD 129 13.9) is "faint, small, round, double star to northeast".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3279 (Todd (#30), 1860 10 25 30±, NPD 78 04) is "faint, much extended". Todd's efforts were concentrated on a search for a trans-Neptunian planet, and his positions for the "novae" discovered during that search were relatively poor, hence the duplicate listing. (More to follow in the next iteration of this page; see Corwin for a detailed discussion of 3279.)
Physical Information: Apparent size 2.9? by 0.4 arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3280 (Common (#2), 1860 RA 10 25 31, NPD 101 47) is "faint, binuclear". The second IC lists a corrected position (per Howe) of RA 10 25 50, NPD 101 55.0; Howe also states that NGC 3295 must be the same as NGC 3280, as shown above. The original NGC position precesses to RA 10 32 25.7, Dec -12 30 08, but there is nothing there nor near there. However, the corrected position precesses to RA 10 32 44.6, Dec -12 38 09, right on the triplet listed above, and there is nothing comparable nearby, so Howe's identification is certain.
Discovery Notes: Howe's paper states that he found nothing at either NGC position, but that there was a nebula matching Leavenworth's description less than 3 minutes of time to the west, at nearly the NGC declination (a very common sort of error for that observatory), consisting of a wide double 30 arcsec apart, at position angle 70°, which clearly matches the visual appearance of the triplet. He also stated that Common's positions are usually poor, and that his description of what became NGC 3280 is similar to Leavenworth's description of what became NGC 3295, and therefore believed that both were the object he found at 1900 RA 10 27 48, Dec -12 07.3, which precesses (as stated above) right on the triplet listed above, so its identity with Howe's observation is certain, and given his comments, the identification with the two NGC objects is as certain as possible. Per Corwin, Howe's comparison of Common's and Leavenworth's apparently nonexistent objects makes it essentially certain that they are the same trio described immediately preceding, and listed at the start of this entry. Corwin also points out that Leavenworth found NGC 3296 and 3297 on the same night, and presuming that he made similar errors in their positions (and in fact Howe's paper states that 3296 had almost exactly the same large error as 3295), they must be the galaxies to the south and southeast of the triplet listed here, making Howe's deductions certain.
Designation Note: NED incorrectly lists PGC 31153 as being identical to PGC 31156, and therefore lists PGC 31156 as 2MASSJ10324552-1238141.
Physical Information: Since the three galaxies appear to be a physical group, and their recessional velocities are similar (8930 km/sec for PGC 31153, 8580 km/sec for PGC 31156 and 8490 km/sec for PGC 31158), the appropriate recessional velocity to estimate their Hubble distance is the average of the three values, or about 8665 km/sec. Based on that (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), a straightforward calculation indicates that PGC 31153 is about 400 to 405 million light years away, in reasonable agreement with a single redshift-independent distance estimate of about 420 to 425 million light years. However, for objects at such distances we should take into account the expansion of the Universe during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing that shows that the galaxy was about 390 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 395 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and its apparent size of about 0.65 by 0.45 arcmin (a rough average from the DSS and PanSTARRS-1 images below), the galaxy is about 70 to 75 thousand light years across. Since its companions must be at about the same distance, the apparent size of PGC 31156 of about 0.4 by 0.2 arcmin (also a rough average from the images below) would make it about 45 thousand light years across, and the apparent size of PGC 31158 of about 0.4 by 0.3 arcmin (again, from the images below) would make it about 45 thousand light years across. Based on their similar recessional velocities, NGC 3295 may be a physically bound "pair" with NGC 3296.
Physical Note: NED lists the recessional velocity of PGC 31153 as only 8645 km/sec, but does not list any value for the other members of the triplet; and since that is only 20 km/sec less than the average of the three numbers listed above (taken from SIMBAD) and well within the uncertainty of the individual values, the NED value is probably actually for the triplet, not PGC 31153.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3281 (= GC 2136 = JH 3269, 1860 RA 10 25 34, NPD 124 08.1) is "extremely faint, pretty large, extended, gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Physical Information: Vr 4035 km/sec (per SIMBAD), which is almost twice the value for PGC 83203, so it is merely a background galaxy, and not a true companion.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3282 (Swift list III (#56), 1860 RA 10 25 34, NPD 111 35.1) is "extremely faint star in extremely faint, very small nebula, between 2 stars".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3283 (= GC 2137 = JH 3271, 1860 RA 10 26 51, NPD 135 22.1) is "pretty faint, small, round, gradually brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3284 (= GC 2138 = WH III 912, 1860 RA 10 26 59, NPD 30 44.4) is "extremely faint, very small".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3285 (= GC 2139 = JH 3270, 1860 RA 10 27 01, NPD 116 44.2) is "pretty bright, small, a little extended, gradually brighter middle, 1st of 9", the others being NGC 3305, 3307, 3308, 3309, 3311, 3312, 3314 and 3316.
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3286 (= GC 2140 = JH 722 = WH III 917, 1860 RA 10 27 09, NPD 30 40.2) is "very faint, pretty small, round, pretty suddenly a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Given the duplicat entry, see NGC 3284 for anything else.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3287 (= GC 2141, d'Arrest, 1860 RA 10 27 10, NPD 67 37.3) is "faint, pretty large, double star 24 seconds of time to west, 4 arcmin to south".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3288 (= GC 2142 = JH 723 = WH III 918, 1860 RA 10 27 13, NPD 30 43.5) is "extremely faint, considerably small, round, very gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3289 (= GC 2143 = JH 3272, 1860 RA 10 27 47, NPD 124 34.5) is "extremely faint, very small, round".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Physical Information: Vr 2575 km/sec. Per NED, a "pair member, radial velocity confirmed"

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3290 (Leavenworth list II (#422), 1860 RA 10 27 56, NPD 106 32.8) is "extremely faint, small, a little extended 0°, gradually brighter middle, bright star 6 arcmin to north".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin. Used in the Arp Atlas as an example of a spiral galaxy with small bright companions. Based on a recessional velocity of 10575 km/sec, a straightforward calculation indicates that NGC 3290 is about 490 million light years away. But for objects at such distances we should take into account the Universal expansion during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing so shows that the galaxy was a little over 470 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 480 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and the galaxy's apparent size of 1.0 by 0.5 arcmin, it is about 140 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3291 (Bigourdan (list I #44), 1860 RA 10 28 01, NPD 52 00.8) is "a 13th magnitude star involved in a very faint nebula".
Note About PGC Designation: For purposes of "completeness", LEDA assigns a PGC designation to all NGC objects, but a search of the database for PGC 5067701 returns no results, hence its being listed in quotes.
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Information: Per Dreyer, NGC 3292 (Swift list VI (#36), 1860 RA 10 28 03, NPD 95 26.7) is "very faint, very small, a little extended". The second IC lists a corrected RA (per Howe) of 10 28 32.
Misidentification of PGC 31364: The fainter galaxy to the west of NGC 3292 is sometimes listed as though it is an actual part of the NGC object; but it is too far from the brighter galaxy for Swift to have mistaken it for part of his "nova", and is probably too faint for him to have noticed, as well.
Physical Information:

Historical Misidentification: As noted in the entry for NGC 3292, PGC 31364 is sometimes mistakenly considered to be part of NGC 3292, but it is too far from that galaxy for Swift to have mistaken it for part of his "nova", and probably too faint for him to have seen, as well.
Physical Information:

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3293 (= GC 2144 = JH 3276, (Dunlop 321), 1860 RA 10 28 08, NPD 147 28.2) is "a cluster, bright, rich, pretty large". The second IC lists a corrected RA (per Harv. Ann. xxvi. p. 207) of 10 30 30.
Discovery Notes: See notes for NGC 2050 for an example of how the date of Herschel's observation was determined (and hopes for a future better determination). Although not noted by Dreyer, the cluster is in Lacaille's catalog as II.8; and per Steinicke, though not noted by Dreyer (hence its inclusion in parentheses), Dunlop 321 is now thought to be the same object. Harvard Observatory's paper, by Pickering and Fleming, does not make it clear when the observation reported in the IC2 was made or by whom, but a future iteration of this entry may contain more specific information.
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin. The cluster is thought to be about 7600 light years away. Its Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram suggests that it is about 10 million years old.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3294 (= GC 2145 = JH 724 = WH I 164, 1860 RA 10 28 10, NPD 51 57.1) is "considerably bright, large, much extended 135°, gradually a little brighter middle".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3295 (Leavenworth list I (#173), 1860 RA 10 28 30, NPD 101 55.7) is "extremely faint, pretty large, brighter middle, double or star involved". The second IC notes "Not found by Howe. No doubt = 3280". The position precesses to RA 10 35 25.0, Dec -12 39 04, but there is nothing there nor near there. However, Howe's discussion of "3280 and 3295", shown in the Discovery Notes immediately below, places 3295 right on the triplet listed above, and there is nothing comparable nearby, so Howe's identification is certain. (See IC 617 for a discussion of that additional duplication.)
Discovery Notes: Howe's paper states that he found nothing at either NGC position, but that there was a nebula matching Leavenworth's description less than 3 minutes of time to the west, at nearly the NGC declination (a very common sort of error for that observatory), consisting of a wide double 30 arcsec apart, at position angle 70°, which clearly matches the visual appearance of the triplet. He also stated that Common's positions are usually poor, and that his description of what became NGC 3280 is similar to Leavenworth's description of what became NGC 3295, and therefore believed that both were the object he found at 1900 RA 10 27 48, Dec -12 07.3, which precesses (as stated above) right on the triplet listed above, so its identity with Howe's observation is certain, and given his comments, the identification with the two NGC objects is as certain as possible. Per Corwin, Howe's comparison of Common's and Leavenworth's apparently nonexistent objects makes it essentially certain that they are the same trio described immediately preceding, and listed at the start of this entry. Corwin also points out that Leavenworth found NGC 3296 and 3297 on the same night, and presuming that he made similar errors in their positions (and in fact Howe's paper states that 3296 had almost exactly the same large error as 3295), they must be the galaxies to the south and southeast of the triplet listed here, making Howe's deductions certain.
Physical Information: Given the duplicate entry, see NGC 3280 for anything else.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: Even under the best of conditions, using a letter attached to an NGC designation is likely to lead to confusion, since a given galaxy may have different letters assigned by different catalogs, and different galaxies may be given the same letter designation. In a case like this, where the object already has a perfectly good IC designation, it is also incredibly stupid; so the only purpose of this entry is to warn about the use of non-standard designations.
Other Information: This is the westernmost of the trio of galaxies forming NGC 3295. For anything else, see NGC 3295 and/or IC 617.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: This is the middle of the trio of galaxies listed as NGC 3295, which see for anything else.

Warning About Non-Standard Designations: The use of letters in conjunction with NGC designations can lead to confusion and misidentification of galaxies, as there is no standard for assigning letters, and sometimes a given galaxy has different letters assigned by different sites, and the same non-standard designation may be used for different galaxies.
Physical Information: This is the easternmost of the trio of galaxies listed as NGC 3295, which see for anything else.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3296 (Leavenworth list I (#174), 1860 RA 10 28 30, NPD 101 59.7) is "extremely faint, pretty small, round, brighter middle". The second IC lists a corrected RA (per Howe) of 10 25 52 and adds (also by Howe) "I could only suspect 3297". (As noted in the Discovery Notes for NGC 3295 (= NGC 3280), Leavenworth's positions for all three objects he discovered on the night in question (NGC 3295, 3296 and 3297) were nearly 3 minutes to the east of the correct position (a common sort of error for his observations).) The corrected position precesses to RA 10 32 46.5, Dec -12 42 52, on the northeastern rim of the galaxy listed above, the description fits, there is nothing else nearby, and Howe's notes make it certain that the object listed above is the correct NGC 3296. (See IC 618 for a discussion of that duplication.)
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 8770 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), a straightforward calculation indicates that NGC 3296 is about 405 to 410 million light years away, in moderate agreement with a single redshift-independent distance estimate of about 320 million light years. However, for objects at such distances we should take into account the expansion of the Universe during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing that shows that the galaxy was about 395 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 400 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and its apparent size of about 0.7 by 0.55 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 80 thousand light years across. Although its recessional velocity does not agree with the redshift-independent distance estimate, it would place NGC 3296 at about the same distance as NGC 3295 (= 3280), so they may be a physically bound "pair".

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3297 (Leavenworth list I (#175), 1860 RA 10 28 30, NPD 101 57.7) is "extremely faint, small, irregularly round". The NGC position (with a right ascension identical to the ones Leavenworth gave for NGC 3295 and 3296, which are both nearly 3 minutes of time too far to the east of their correct positions) precesses to RA 10 35 25.0, Dec -12 41 04, but as in the case of the NGC positions for NGC 3295 and 3296, there is nothing there nor near there. However, although Howe only "suspected" 3297 (as noted in the entry for NGC 3296), and therefore did not give a position for it, there is a third galaxy in the region (albeit not quite as far 'off' in position as Leavenworth's other two observations on the night in question) which fits the description; so it (namely the galaxy listed above) must be NGC 3297.
Discovery Notes: Per the second IC note for NGC 3296, only suspected by Howe (while observing NGC 3295 and 3296); but it does indeed exist, and is simply very faint. Per Corwin, it shares a similarly (though not quite as) large error in position with 3295 and 3296, and was found by Leavenworth on the same night, so there is no doubt that it is the galaxy listed above.
Physical Information: Based on a recessional velocity of 9055 km/sec (and H₀ = 70 km/sec/Mpc), a straightforward calculation indicates that NGC 3297 is about 420 million light years away, in poor agreement with a single redshift-independent distance estimate of about 285 million light years. However, for objects at such distances we should take into account the expansion of the Universe during the time it took their light to reach us. Doing that shows that the galaxy was about 405 to 410 million light years away at the time the light by which we see it was emitted, about 410 to 415 million years ago (the difference between the two numbers being due to the expansion of the intervening space during the light-travel time). Given that and its apparent size of about 0.55 by 0.3 arcmin (from the images below), the galaxy is about 65 thousand light years across.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3298 (= GC 2146 = JH 725 = WH III 767, 1860 RA 10 28 45, NPD 39 09.9) is "very faint, pretty small, irregularly extended".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.

Historical Identification: Per Dreyer, NGC 3299 (= GC 2147 = JH 726 = WH III 54, 1860 RA 10 28 58, NPD 76 34.6) is "extremely faint, considerably large, round, very gradually brighter middle, mottled but not resolved".
Physical Information: Apparent size ? arcmin.