William Herschel discovered NGC 3887 = H I-120 = h979 = h3360 on 31 Dec 1785 (sweep 503) and recorded "cB, L, bM, iR, 4 or 5' l and 3 or 4' br." His position matches MCG -03-30-012 = PGC 36754. From the Cape of Good Hope, John Herschel logged "pB; L; R; vgpmbM; r(?); 90"." Based on a photograph taken with the 30-inch Reynolds reflector between 1912-14 at the Helwan Observatory, Harold Knox-Shaw described it as an open spiral.

200/250mm - 8" (5/21/82): faint, moderately large, elongated 3:2 SSW-NNE, diffuse. Located 90' NE of mag 5 Zeta Crateris.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/15/93): fairly bright, large, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, 3.0'x2.0', broadly concentrated halo, no well-defined nucleus. A mag 12 star is at the NE edge of the halo 1.2' from the center and a mag 13 star is off the SE edge 2.0' from center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb