William Herschel discovered NGC 3900 = H I-82 = h988 on 6 Apr 1785 (sweep 393) and noted "pB, pS." JH made 6 observations, recording on sweep 57 "B; pL; R; sbM to nucleus; 40"."

200/250mm - 8" (4/24/82): fairly bright, elongated, bright core, NGC 3912 30' SSE.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/2/92): bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 N-S, 2'x1', brighter core, very small prominent round core, faint stellar nucleus. Surrounded by a mag 11.5 star 3.3' S, a mag 10.5 star 4.6' NNE and a mag 12 star 5.0' ESE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb