Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 4086, along with NGC 4090, on 2 May 1864 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. His single position is a fairly good match with UGC 7076 and he accurately places a mag 9 star as 7' to the west. In his description he also mentions another nebula is 3' to the north. This refers to NGC 4090, though his RA for this object is 10 sec too large.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/28/87): faint, very small, round, weak concentration. Located 13' E of NGC 4076. Forms a pair with NGC 4090 3.9' N within the NGC 4065 cluster.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb