VST image in SDSS r band of a 28′ × 28′ region covering both CIG 96 and its companion NGC 864 COM1 (indicated by the magenta contour to the east of the image). Optical contours are set in 24.0, 25.0, 26.0, 27.0, 27.5, 28.0 and 28.4 mag arcsec⁻² (SDSS r), smoothed with a Gaussian kernel of 11 pixel radius. The purple contour marks the HI column density limit of the zeroth moment at 0.6 × 10²⁰ cm⁻², as in Fig. 6.