William Herschel discovered NGC 6316 = H I-45 = h3671 on 24 May 1784 (sweep 224) and recorded "B, R, mbM, but the brightness decreasing very gradually. A faintish dusky red colour is still perceptible. It is a perfect miniature of the former miniature [NGC 6293, which is itself a miniature cluster of the 19th of the Connoissance des Temps." So he recognized NGC 6316 as a distant globular.

Dunlop probably observed the globular on 13 May 1826, recording "a very small faint round nebula, about 8" or 10" diameter, bright in the centre. There is a very small star south of the nebula, distant about 10" from it, but it is not involved or connected with the nebula." Observed once, and his position is 36' too far east-southeast, so his identification is not certain.

JH made two observations from the Cape of Good Hope. On 30 Jul 1834 he recorded "globular, B, R, gbM, resolvable, 90", has 2 small stars very near." On a later sweep he logged "globular, pB, S, R, pgvmbM, 2', resolved into stars 16..17th mag."

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/27/92): moderately bright, fairly small, round, 2' diameter, broad concentration with no distinct core. This globular was mottled across the disc but only marginally resolved with a few 16th magnitude stars visible. A brighter mag 12 field star is off the SE edge by 1' and a mag 13 field stars is at the SW side and another 2' W of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb