William Herschel discovered NGC 3951 = H III-342 = h1010 on 10 Apr 1785 (sweep 394) and noted "vF, vS, lE." JH noted "vF; S; R" and measured a fairly accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/4/02): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 ~N-S, 0.9'x0.5', weak concentration. Brightest in a string of five galaxies including UGC 6846 and 6855 to the NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb