John Herschel discovered NGC 6849 = h3805 on 4 Sep 1834 and recorded "pB; S; R: has a vS star np." There is nothing near his position matching this description, but exactly 5.0 minutes of RA east is ESO 339-032 = PGC 64097! The declination is accurate to within 1'. The "vS star np" is at the southwest edge. The ESO/Uppsala catalogue equates this fairly bright galaxy with NGC 6849 and notes the NGC RA is off by 5 minutes of time.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/5/91): faint, fairly small, elongated 3:2 ~N-S, weak concentration, diffuse halo fades into background. A mag 13 star is off the east side 1.4' from center. Located 3.5' S of a mag 10 star. Low elevation detracts from viewing. John Herschel's position was exactly 5 tmin of RA to the west so this identification not certain.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb