James Dunlop discovered NGC 6744 = D 262 = h3776 on 30 Jun 1826 with his 9" reflector from Parramatta (20 km W of Sydney). He described "a pretty large very faint nebula, about 5' or 6' diameter, slightly bright towards the centre; a minute star is north of the nebula, and two stars of the 7th mag preceding." His position is 1 min 45 sec of time too far west (12' error). On 20 Jun 1835, John Herschel recorded "pB; R; at first vg, then svmbM; total diam 2', but that of the bright part = 15"." His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 20" (6/29/02 - Bargo, Australia): bright, large, elongated 3:2 SSW-NNE, ~9'x6'. A bright, oval core or bar is surrounded by a moderately low surface halo with an impression of "motion" or arcs embedded within the outer glow.

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): I primarily scanned NGC 6744 looking for very small HII regions. The offsets stated here are relative to a very small bright nucleus, which was sharply concentrated within the core. A non-stellar knot was noted 2.5' NW of the nucleus. A second knot was seen 2.9' ESE of the nucleus and a third was just 1.6' NE of center. Roughly a dozen "stars" are superimposed on the galaxy and some of the fainter ones may be stellar HII knots. Spiral structure was too subtle to see any definite arms. IC 4823 (a double system) lies 18' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb