Lewis Swift discovered NGC 6538 = Sw. IV-62 on 30 May 1886 and recorded "eF; vS; lE; between 2 eF stars." His position is 25 seconds of RA west and 44" south of UGC 11062 (2' separation) and his description applies (the stars are northwest and southeast). Bigourdan measured an accurate position on 10 Oct 1890.

Swift apparently made the initial discovery several years earlier. On 11 Sep 1883 Swift announced finding a supposed comet (see NGC 6654 for the story). While searching for the comet, Ernst Hartwig discovered NGC 6508 and two other astronomers (Palisa and Lamp) found NGC 6654 and thought it was new. Swift was apparently upset and probably embarrassed with being deceived and tartly replied (AN 107, p273), "It would appear from his (Hartwig's) silence that he missed another about 4 minutes east and 1° 20' north, which I found Oct 3 [1883]." This offset matches NGC 6538, but Swift didn't report it in his discovery lists, until it was rediscovered on 30 May 1886.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/9/88): faint, very small, elongated SW-NE, small bright core. Located directly between a mag 14 star 1.2' NW and a mag 15 star 1.0' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb