Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 6359 on 27 Oct 1861 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen (first night he made discoveries with this telescope). He measured the mag 10 star to the north as 3.4 seconds east and 168.4" north and computed an accurate position. Lewis Swift rediscovered the galaxy on 1 Aug 1885, and reported Sw. II-53 as "vF; vS; R; forms arc of a circle with 2 stars; nebula between."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/18/88): fairly faint, fairly small, very bright core, stellar nucleus, faint oval halo NNW-SSE. Located 2.8' S of mag 9.3 SAO 17423. Forms a pair with UGC 10796 11' NW.

600/800mm - 24" (6/28/16): moderately bright, fairly small, slightly elongated NNW-SSE, 40"x30", strong concentration, high surface brightness. A mag 10 star is 2.8' N. Located 9' WNW of mag 7.7 HD 157425.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb