John Herschel discovered NGC 6880 = h3820 on 27 Jun 1835 and recorded "pF; S; R; r; 15"; the last of 4 [with NGC 6872, 6876 and 6877]." His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 18" (7/10/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this galaxy in the Pavo-I Group appeared faint, small, elongated 5:2 SSW-NNE, 0.5'x0.2'. A mag 13 star is at the west edge. Forms a close pair with IC 4981 off the NE edge 1.1' from the center. NGC 6877 lies 4.4' W. IC 4981 appeared very faint, very small, 20" diameter.

18" (7/8/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): fairly faint, fairly small, 0.8'x0.4'. A 13th magnitude star is at NW edge of the halo and a fainter star is superposed on the south end.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb