William Herschel discovered NGC 6137 = H III-624 = h1956 on 17 Mar 1787 (sweep 715) and recorded "vF, S, bM. Discovered with 300x." Caroline's reduced position is 1.5' southwest of UGC 10364. On 9 May 1826 (sweep 73) John Herschel called it, "F; S; R; bM."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/27/87): faint, small, slightly elongated oval. Located between two mag 14 stars 1.0' NW and 1.0' E. Forms a close pair with NGC 6137B 1.7' NW. The companion appeared extremely faint, very small, round. A mag 14.5 star is 0.8' S (same one 1' NW of NGC 6137).

600/800mm - 24" (7/22/14): at 375x appeared fairly bright, moderately large, elongated 5:3 N-S, 0.8'x0.5', broad concentration with a brighter core. Increases in size with averted vision. A mag 14.3 star is 1' E and a mag 14.8 star is 1' NW.

Three galaxies are aligned in a string to the NNW. NGC 6137B = CGCG 196-052, 1.7' NNW, appeared fairly faint (B = 15.8), small, round, 18" diameter. PGC 214491, 3.9' NNW, appeared faint (B = 16.3), very small, round, 12"-15" diameter. PGC 3498453, 7.3' NNW, appeared faint, small, slightly elongated E-W, 18"x15".

Notes by Steve Gottlieb