Lewis Swift discovered NGC 7746 = Sw. IV-99 on 7 Sep 1886 and logged "eF; pS; R; * nr south, which with one following and preceding forms a double triangle." His RA is 7 seconds too small (1.5'), but there is no question with the identification.

400/500mm - 17.5" fairly faint, small, round, small bright core. In line with three mag 14 stars oriented E-W 2.5' W and 2.2' E of center. A mag 12.5 star is 2.3' SSE.

900/1200mm - 48" (10/29/16): fairly bright, moderately large, well concentrated with a bright core and a very bright quasi-stellar nucleus. The halo is oval 3:2 NNW-SSE, ~45"x30". A 6" (uncatalogued) double star is 2.3' SSE (recorded as a single star in 17.5" observation). Two 16th mag stars 1.5' and 2.5' NW are collinear with the galaxy. Shakhbazian 21, a distant compact galaxy cluster (1 billion l.y.), is 22' ESE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb