Édouard Stephan found NGC 6363 = St X-34 on 24 Jul 1879. His position matches UGC 10827. This galaxy was discovered nearly 7 years earlier by Stephan in 1872 and catalogued as NGC 6138 = St II-2, though he transposed the digits of the offset star, so his published position (and the NGC) are in error. Emmanuel Esmiol corrected the position when he re-reduced all of Stephan's discoveries at the Marseille Observatory (published in 1916). So, NGC 6138 = NGC 6363. Nevertheless, modern sources such as the RNGC misidentify NGC 6138, using the erroneous NGC position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/1/89): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated, gradually increases to a small bright core.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb