John Herschel discovered NGC 3823 = h3357 on 7 May 1836 and logged "F; lE; pslbM; 40"." His position is just off the north side of PGC 36331 although he questioned if a double error of 1 min in RA and 1 degree in dec would make it a duplicate of NGC 3831.

400/500mm - 18" (3/19/04): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated E-W, weak concentration, 0.7'x0.6'. Situated directly between two mag 13-14 stars 2' N and 2' S. NGC 3831 lies 1.0° NNE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb