Guillaume Bigourdan found IC 4616 on 28 Aug 1886 while searching for NGC 6197. Due to Albert Marth's very poor position for NGC 6197, Bigourdan misidentified a faint star as NGC 6197 and rediscovered NGC 6197 as Big. 426 (later IC 4616). CGCG, MCG and UGC label this galaxy as IC 4616, due to its unambiguous position, though NGC 6197 should apply by historical precedence. See NGC 6197 for more on the identification.

300/350mm - 13.1" (8/5/83): very faint, very small, near visual threshold.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/6/86): faint, very small, almost round. A mag 12.5 star lies 1.5' SE. This is the second brightest and furthest south in a trio with NGC 6196 4.8' NNW and IC 4614 7.6' NNW. This galaxy is identified as IC 4616 in the CGCG and MCG and RNGC misidentifies NGC 6197 with an extremely faint companion a 1.3' SW of NGC 6196.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb