William Herschel discovered NGC 3916 = H II-787 = h993 on 14 Apr 1789 (sweep 920) and recorded "Two, the south-following [NGC 3921], which is that of which the place is taken, is pB, S [with another [NGC 3916] north-preceding about 5', it precedes the other about 5 sec in time.)" JH logged "eF; R; gbM" and his position is within 1' of UGC 6819.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/19/88): faint, fairly small, thin edge-on SW-NE, weak concentration. Forms a pair with NGC 3921 4.5' SSE.

900/1200mm - 48" (5/12/12): at 488x appeared bright, fairly large, elongated nearly 4:1 SW-NE, ~1.2'x0.3'. Arp 224 = NGC 3921 lies 4.5' SE, MCG +09-19-213 is 5.8' SSW and PGC 2491113 (part of Arp 224) is 3.6' ESE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb