Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 6516, along with NGC 6512 and 6521, on 27 Oct 1861 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. Lewis Swift independently discovered all three of these galaxies on 28 May 1886 and recorded Sw. III-97 as "eeF; vS; R; pB * nr; sf of 2". Swift's position is 30 seconds of RA too far west and the description should read "nf of 2 [with NGC 6512]."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/11/88): very faint, extremely small. A mag 15.5 star is at the north edge. Second of three in the NGC 6521 group (WBL 650) with NGC 6512 3.4' SW and NGC 6521 5.0' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb