200/250mm - 8" (7/13/91 - Southern Baja): faint, very small, 1.5' diameter, round, almost even surface brightness with a weak concentration. A mag 12 star is at the WSW edge (field star). The core appeared displaced towards this star. No additional resolution was evident. Located in a rich star field with globular cluster NGC 5927 70' W. Viewed at about 14° elevation from Baja.

400/500mm - 18" (7/6/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 128x this globular appeared moderately bright, moderately large, round. The halo extends to 3' diameter with averted vision and surrounds a brighter 1' core. At 228x a number of very faint stars were just resolved around the periphery of the halo in moments of better seeing. Perhaps two dozen stars were resolved in total including a bright mag 12 star (superimposed field star?). Many of the resolved stars form a semi-circular loop, ringing the halo along the entire eastern half of the globular. Several mag 10-11 stars form a long chain curving around from the SW to the east side, ~5' from the cluster. NGC 5946 is situated within a beautiful Norma star field ~70' E of the brighter globular cluster NGC 5927.