ESO 185-054 is moderately bright and large, elongated 4:3 NW-SE, 1.3'x1.0', broad concentration. A mag 13 star is just off the south edge, 1.1' from center. This galaxy appears slightly brighter than NGC 6848, which lies 10' SW, so it's curious that JH missed it. ESO 185-053, just 3.6' to the west, appeared faint, small, edge-on 4:1 NNW-SSE, 0.6'x0.15'. A mag 13 star is just off the NNW extension 50" from center and a fainter mag 14 star lies 30" W of center.

John Herschel discovered NGC 6848 = h3804 on 9 Jul 1834 and recorded "F; L; R; vglbM; 90"; forms a triangle with 2 st 11 and 12m, following it." His position (and description) is accurate.

400/500mm - 18" (7/10/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 128x, fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, 1.2'x0.4', broad concentration to a brighter core. Two mag 13 stars 1' NE and 1.5' SE of center run parallel to the major axis! Forms a trio with ESO 185-053 9' NNE and ESO 185-054 10' NE in the core of cluster ACO S840. On the DSS, a prominent dust lane bisects the galaxy.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb