Albert Marth discovered NGC 6852 = m 404 on 25 Jun 1863 and noted "F neb, within a group of small stars." The same night he also discovered the planetary NGC 6778. Lubos Kohoutek rediscovered this object a century later during a visual survey of the POSS and included it in a list of new PN (K 1-18) published in 1963.

300/350mm - 13" (7/20/85): moderately bright, slightly elongated NW-SE, diffuse, no structure. Two stars are off NW edge about 40" and a faint star is at the SSE edge. Located 5' NE of a mag 8 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/16/88): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated NW-SE, no annularity noted. A mag 13.5 star is 34" WNW and a mag 14.5 star is 23" SE of center. Located 4.6' ENE of mag 7.5 SAO 125338. Estimate V = 12.5.

600/800mm - 24" (6/30/16): at 501x (unfiltered); very bright compact planetary, fairly small, slightly elongated ~N-S, ~25"x21". A darker center and bright knots in the rim give a bipolar annular appearance. A very small bright knot is at the southeast end, close to a mag 14.4 star that is just off the edge [22" from center]. A matching knot (slightly less contrasty) is along the northwest edge of the rim. A mag 13 field is less than 30" W of this knot. The rim is slightly weaker on the southwest and northeast sides (the south edge is not well defined), so in effect a darker strip or bar extends through the center in a SW-NE orientation, nearly slicing the planetary into two sections.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb