William Herschel discovered NGC 6038 = H III-622 = h1944 on 17 Mar 1787 (sweep 715) and noted "vF, S, R. I saw it in the field while I was gauging otherwise it would have certainly been overlooked." His position is 22 sec of RA east of UGC 10149. JH made 3 observations and measured an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/15/91): faint, fairly small, 1' diameter, round, low almost even surface brightness with no discernable core, halo gradually fades into background. A mag 11 star is 40" off the SE edge and 1.3' from center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb