Albert Marth discovered NGC 6944 = m 419 on 15 Aug 1863 and noted "pF, S, R." His position is fairly accurate.

300/350mm - 13.1" (6/29/84): faint, very small, almost round, weak concentration. A bright rectangle of stars is in the field to the north. Located 43' E of a mag 6.5 star.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/4/86): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated, very small bright core. Located 2.5' S of mag 9 SAO 126045. This bright star is the southwest vertex of a 3.5'x1' parallelogram with three other mag 10 stars. Forms a pair with NGC 6944A 6.4' SSW. The fainter companion appeared very faint, small, round. Located 1.6' NW of mag 8.9 SAO 126044, which detracts from viewing. A fainter star is close northwest.

600/800mm - 24" (7/16/15): moderately to fairly bright, moderately large, elongated 5:3 SW-NE, sharply concentrated with a prominent, small round core, ill-defined low surface brightness halo ~50"x30". Located 2.6' SSE of mag 8.4 HD 196612, which forms the southwest corner of a prominent asterism including three additional mag 10-11 stars. NGC 6944 lies 6.5' SSW. The companion (similar redshift) appeared fairly faint, oval 4:3 SW-NE, very weak concentration to a small, slightly brighter nucleus, overall low surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb