Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 6078 = St VII-5 on 21 Jun 1876. His micrometric position using the 31-inch silvered glass reflector at Marseille Observatory is very accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" fairly faint, small, round, small bright core, substellar nucleus. Two mag 14-15 stars are 1.1' WNW and 1.3' NNW of center. Located 5.9' SE of mag 9.3 SAO 101996. NGC 6074 is 12' WNW.

600/800mm - 24" (7/24/14): moderately bright, fairly small, round, 30" diameter, increases to a very small bright core and down to a stellar nucleus. This is dominant component of a very close pair with MCG +02-41-018 attached to the south-southeast side, just 25" between centers! The companion appeared faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, occasional stellar nucleus. The pair was just resolved at 260x. NGC 6074, another double system, lies 12' WNW. NGC 6078 is the brightest in the USGC U751 group at z = .032, which includes NGC 6074, NGC 6083 and CGCG 079-073.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb