John Herschel discovered NGC 3996 = h1032 on 23 Apr 1832 and logged "vF; pL; R; has two stars sf." This was one of the last two objects discovered by Herschel at Slough (the following year he set sail for the Cape of Good Hope), though he measured the position again on the 26th and 28th of April.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/11/02): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated SW-NE, 0.7'x0.5', nearly even surface brightness. A line of stars oriented SSW-NNE precedes the galaxy and two mag 13.5-14 stars follow. Located 20' ENE of a mag 6.7 star and 2.1° ESE of Beta Leonis (Denebola).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb