William Herschel discovered NGC 3850 = H III-776 on 14 Apr 1789 (sweep 920) and recorded "eF, pL, lE. Time inaccurate, left doubtful." There is nothing at his position but exactly 1.0 min of RA east is UGC 6733. Probably because of the poor position it was not recovered by Bigourdan. MCG gives the NGC identification as uncertain. The RNGC mislabels NGC 3850 as NGC 3889.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/19/88): faint, fairly small, diffuse oval NW-SE. Second of five in a group with NGC 3846 17' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb