William Herschel discovered NGC 3892 = H II-553 = h981 = h3361 on 4 Mar 1786 (sweep 597) and recorded "pB, pL, bM, iF. To the south and a little preceding is a vS star inclosed in the nebulosity, which at first had the appearance of a small, stellar nebula." His position is accurate. John Herschel logged this galaxy from England as "L; R; gbM; 60"; r" and from the Cape of Good Hope as "pB; R; pL; 45"; first gradually the psbM." Joseph Turner, observing on the 48" Melbourne Telescope on 5 Apr 1878 noted it this object was suddenly brighter to a nucleus.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/15/93): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 4:3 E-W, 2.0'x1.5', prominent core, very small brighter nucleus, large faint halo. A mag 13.2 star is 2' NW and a mag 13.7 star is off the SW edge of the halo [1.1' from center]. Located 5' WSW of a mag 10.5 star. Brightest in a small, but spread out group (LGG 248 at z = .006) including NGC 3732 and 3779.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb