John Herschel discovered NGC 6909 = h3828 on 1 Jul 1834 and recorded "pB; pL; gbM; near 2 st 10m." His position is accurate. Joseph Turner sketched the galaxy on 9 Aug 1877 with the Great Melbourne Telescope and showed it elongated ~2:1 SW-NE and sharply concentrated with a very small, very bright nucleus. He placed a 15th mag star close off the south side. (p. 141 of his logbook).

600/800mm - 30" (11/5/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): fairly bright, elongated 5:2 WSW-ENE, 1.4'x0.6'; sharply concentrated with a very bright and small core, increasing to bright stellar nucleus. A mag 15 star lies 0.6' S of center and a mag 13 star is 1.3' SE. Two mag 9-9.5 stars lie 8' NE and another mag 9.5 is 12' NE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb