William Herschel discovered NGC 6939 = H VI-42 = h2083 on 9 Sep 1798 (sweep 1077) and described "a beautiful compressed cluster of small stars, extremely rich, of an iF. The preceding part of it R and branching out on the following side; both towards the north and towards the south; 8 or 9' diam." JH made 4 observations and logged on sweep 366 "very fine rich cluster; 5' diam; stars 12m and nearly equal; shape rather convex towards the preceding side."

300/350mm - 13" (7/5/83): ~70 stars resolved at 166x, very rich, beautiful in faint stars.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/14/85): about 100-140 stars mag 12-15 are resolved. Difficult to count as stars fill the 22' field at 220x with no distinct boundaries. NGC 6946 is located less than 40' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb