M65, M66, and NGC3628 make up the famous Leo Triplet.  On the right side of this image are M65 (top) and M66 (bottom), discovered by Messier in 1780, who described them as "very faint."  Messier did not see the fainter NGC 3628, which was discovered by William Herschel in 1784.  Herschel described M65 as "a very brilliant nebula," having "a bright nucleus, the light of which suddently diminishes on its border, and two opposite very faint branches."  M66 he described as "A [very bright, much extended] nebula of an irregular figure." [Dreyer, "The Scientific Papers of William Herschel", vol. 2, pages 483 and 658, resp.]

By the late 19th century astronomers such as Eugen von Gothard and Isaac Roberts were photographing "deep sky" objects, and finding much more detail than was described by visual observers such as Herschel and Lord Rosse.  In a note to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1894, Roberts noted his photograph of M65 "shows the nebula to be a symmetrical ellipse with a well-defined stellar nucleus surrounded by dense nebulosity; and this, together with the nuclear condensations, are surrounded by two elliptical rings of nebulosity separated by a dark space."  His photograph of M66 "shows the nebula to be an imperfect spiral with a well-defined stellar nucleus which forms the pole of the convolutions, involved in which I counted fourteen nebulous and star-like condensations.  They are all involved in what appears suggestive of a state of transition into the perfect form of spiral nebulae."

Roberts added "the time is approaching, if it has not already arrived, when discussion concerning the developments of these gigantic celestial bodies may be profitably undertaken, for reliable evidence showing their forms and structures is rapidly accumulating.  The existing classification of the nebulae into bright, faint, very large, &c, is much too indefinite a description of the objects as they are now depicted to us by photography." [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 54, Issue 8, June 1894, Pages 507–509, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/54.8.507]

All three galaxies are members of the Leo Group at about 35 million light years away; the deformation and tidal tail of NGC3628 indicates they are interacting gravitationally (if you look closely you can barely see the tail extending below NGC3628).

From my backyard,  March 1, 2024 (244 years to the day after Messier discovered M65 and M66).  TMB 130mm refractor, 114x120 seconds ASI2600MC color camera.