Charles Messier (June 20th 1764):
'A cluster….. Not distinguished with a 3.5 foot (focal length) telescope and it needed a better instrument. I have seen it very well with a Gregorian telescope magnifying 104x. The cluster contains no nebulosity.'
Smyth:
'A course but bright cluster of stars in a fine condensed part of the Milky Way.'
Quote from Dreyer's New General Catalog(NGC) for NGC 6694:
'Cluster, considerably large, westward rich in stars, westward compressed, stars of magnitude 12 to 15; = M-26.'
Quote from Burnham's Celestial Handbook:
In the small telescope M26 appears as a small but tight group with the brightest star on the Southwest corner and two short curving "prongs" of stars pointing upward from the North edge, enclosing a nearly circular dark gap about 2 arc minutes wide. About 25 stars may be counted in the group with a 6-inch telescope; about 70 additional fainter stars are considered to be true cluster member and the true diameter is in the range or 12 to 16 light years.
The latest distance estimates for this cluster of a few hundred stars is 5,200 light years.
George Normandin, KAS
November 7th, 2007