William Herschel discovered NGC 6501 = H III-958 = St XII-86, along with NGC 6500, on 29 Jun 1799 (sweep 1090). See comments on NGC 6500.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/1/89): moderately bright, fairly small, round, small bright core, stellar nucleus. Twin of NGC 6500 2.3' SSW. Located 5.6' NW of mag 6.6 SAO 103227.

600/800mm - 24" (7/14/18): at 225x; bright, moderately large, elongated 4:3 N-S, well concentrated with a prominent core and a small intense nucleus. NGC 6501 is the northern member of an excellent, similar pair with NGC 6500 2.3' SSW. The galaxies form the base of a thin isosceles triangle with STF 2245, a superb equal mag (7.4/7.5) double star at 2.6" separation.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb