John Herschel discovered NGC 6776 = h3787 on 20 Jun 1835 and logged "pB; R; psbM; 15"." There is nothing at his single position, but 1.7 minutes of RA east and 1.5' north is ESO 104-053 = PGC 63185. There are no other bright candidates nearby, so this identification is fairly secure. DeLisle Stewart's corrected RA (given in the IC 2 Notes) is 1.6 minutes further west, instead of east

400/500mm - 18" (7/9/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): moderately bright, fairly small, roundish, 0.8'x0.7'. A faint star is just off the northwest side, ~30" from the center.

600/800mm - 30" (10/18/17 - OzSky): at 264x; fairly bright, moderately large, slightly elongated N-S, ~0.9'x0.75'. Sharply concentrated with an intensely bright core that increases to a very bright stellar nucleus. A mag 14.8 star is off the south side, 1.2' from center and a mag ~14.5 star is at the northwest edge [25" from center]. Mag 9.8 HD 181463 lies 4.6' SW.

NGC 6776A lies 10.8' NNW. At 264x and 429x it appeared fairly faint, moderately large, extremely thin streak, ~1.0'x0.15', with a slightly brighter nucleus. A mag 12.3 star at the north edge interferes with viewing. The nucleus of the galaxy is just south of the star [by 16"].

Notes by Steve Gottlieb