Sir Robert Ball, an assistant on the Lord Rosse's 72" telescope, discovered NGC 3700 on 31 Mar 1867 while observing NGC 3694. Ball mentions "the 2 nf ones, Pos 310, Dist 339" which precisely matches the separation and position angle of UGC 6480 and UGC 6494. This suggests NGC 3694 = UGC 6480 and NGC 3700 = UGC 6494, despite the NGC position for NGC 3700 off by 20 tsec in RA and 6' in dec.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/18/98): faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, 1.0'x0.7', weak concentration. Similar to NGC 3695 5.7' NW and third in trio with NGC 3694. The orientation given matches the main bar - a fainter outer ring oriented NW-SE was not seen.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb