John Herschel discovered NGC 3986 = h1027 on 29 Apr 1827 and logged "E nearly in parallel [east-west]; a * 11m near." His mean position (3 observations) matches UGC 6920. NGC 3966, found by d'Arrest on 8 May 1864, is a duplicate observation. See notes for NGC 3966.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/24/90): faint, small, edge-on E-W, bulging core. A close double star is located just 0.8' SW of the center consisting of mag 13 and 14 stars with separation 9" oriented N-S. Member of the NGC 3995 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb