NGC 3686 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Leo. It has two spiral arms and a weak bar.
It forms a quartet with three other spiral galaxies, NGCs 3681, 3684, and 3691.Blackman, C. P. (1980). Surface photometry, mass distributions and stability of the NGC 3686 quartet of galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 191(1), 123–133. It was discovered on 14 March 1784 by William Herschel. It is a member of the NGC 3607 Group of galaxies, which is a member of the Leo II Groups, a series of galaxies and galaxy clusters strung out from the right edge of the Virgo Supercluster.
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