William Herschel discovered NGC 3896 = H II-739, along with NGC 3893, on 9 Mar 1788 (sweep 816) and noted "F, vS." His position is 2' too far north. d'Arrest found it on 4 Dec 1861 and assumed it was new, though he made a transcription error and his position is 36 minutes of time too small.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/7/89): faint, small, oval NW-SE, small bright core. A mag 13.5 star is at the north edge 26" from the center. Forms a pair with NGC 3893 3.7' NW. Member of the NGC 3877 subgroup of the NGC 3992 (M109) group = LGG 258.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/9/18): at 488x and 610x; bright, moderately large, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, ~0.9'x0.6', sharply concentrated with a very bright core. A mag 13.5 star is at the north edge [25" from center], and a mag 16.8 star is just off the west side [33" from center]. Fainter of pair with showpiece (in this aperture) NGC 3893 3.7' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb