John Herschel discovered NGC 3861 = h970 on 23 Mar 1827 and noted "F; S; R; bM. Doubtful." His position is just off the northwest side of UGC 6724.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/25/84): faint, moderately large, small bright core, diffuse.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/12/88): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, fairly sharp concentration with a very bright core and stellar nucleus, faint oval halo. This member of AGC 1367 is located 6.5' NW of mag 7.4 SAO 81972.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/15/12): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 5:3 WSW-ENE, 1.7'x1.0', well concentrated with a large, bright core and very small brighter nucleus. A very faint spiral arm emerges on the north or northeast side of the core and winds counterclockwise, merging with MCG +03-30-094, a close companion on the southeast side. A similar second arm emerges from the south side of the core and unwinds towards the west, ending at 0.9' W of center. A very faint extension on the northwest side was not seen. The companion is situated just 50" SE of center and appeared fairly faint, elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, 0.6'x0.25', even surface brightness. CGCG 97-133 lies 4.3' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb