Truman Safford discovered NGC 6098 = Sf 76 = Sw. VI-88, along with NGC 6099, on 24 Apr 1867. In his 1887 list (too late to be included in the main NGC table) Safford described a "double nebula, pretty faint, dist 40"." His position is off the southeast side of this close pair. Lewis Swift found the pair again on 3 Apr 1887 and recorded "eF; vS; R; B * f 41s and is n of it; F * f 16s; np of 2 [with NGC 6099]." Swift is credited with the discovery in the NGC.

400/500mm - 17.5" faint, very small, slightly elongated, stellar nucleus. Located 10.2' WSW of mag 7.7 SAO 102051. Forms a close double system with NGC 6099 off the SE edge 36" between centers.

600/800mm - 24" (7/20/17): at 375x; moderately bright, fairly small, round, 30"-40" diameter, well concentrated with a bright core. An extremely faint 16th magnitude star is close off the east side [24"from center]. A superimposed 15th mag star [just 7" S of center] was suspected but difficult to confirm. NGC 6098 is the northwest component of a similar contact pair of ellipticals with NGC 6099 0.6' SE. The halo of NGC 6098 seems slightly larger.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb