Max Wolf discovered IC 3886 = W. VI-98, along with several other faint IC galaxies within AGC 1638, on a Heidelberg plate taken 27 Jan 1904. He reported "vF, vS, iF, bM.", with the note "Ch!! conn 1'n, &&, viF." Harold Corwin translates this description as "Very remarkable chain connecting 1 arcmin north, very irregular figure." Although there are two stars 1' north, they are not connected in any way to this extremely faint galaxy.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/2/11): extremely faint and small, 6" diameter. This galaxy was chosen to track down as it one of the faintest galaxies listed in the IC! Located 17' ESE of mag 7.1 HD 112084 and 3.4' NE of a mag 10.3 star. This galaxy is on the NE side of AGC 1638 with several additional faint but easier IC galaxies packed into an compact arrangement (ring) ~9' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb