Charles Messier discovered M29 = NGC 6913 = h2078 on 29 July 1764. Caroline Herschel observed this group on 6 Apr 1783 and logged "About 1 deg under Gamma Cygni; in my telescope 5 small stars thus [diagram]. My Brother looked at them with the 7 ft and counted 12. It is not in Mess. catalogue." According to Michael Hoskins, the position and diagram applies to M29, despite her comment that it wasn't a Messier. On 15 Sep 1792 (sweep 1027), William Herschel recorded "a cluster of very coarsely sc. vL stars; not rich." JH reported "a coarse cluster of 8 large stars (10m) and a dozen or 20 smaller in a roundish form."

300/350mm - 13.1" (9/9/83): M29 consists of two dozen stars mag 8 and fainter in a fairly small trapezoidal outline well detached in the field. The six brightest mag 8 stars form two curving rows on the SW and NE ends. Appears loose with no dense spots and seems fully resolved.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb