John Herschel discovered NGC 6625 = h2009 on 31 Jul 1826 and logged "A loose straggling cluster of stars 11...12m.". His position is very close to mag 5.7 HD 169033, although if his position is accurate I'm surprised he didn't mention the nearby bright star.

Harold Corwin identifies NGC 6625 with a group of stars (possibly a cluster) to the west of the bright star or perhaps a larger Milky Way field. Brian Skiff could not make a visual identification on two attempts and nothing stood out in my observation. Karl Reinmuth also reported no clustering was found on a Heidelberg Observatory plate. See Corwin's notes for more.

400/500mm - 17.5" (8/3/97): at 100x, appears to be a Milky Way field in a large triangular region roughly bordered by mag 5.7 HD 169033 star at the SE vertex, a mag 8 star ~12' NW and a mag 9 star ~9' W. This identification is uncertain as the region is completely indistinguishable from surrounding fields in star density and does not have any resemblance to a cluster although the Milky Way background seems locally brighter (also, JH does not mention the mag 5.7 star). At 220x, there is a fairly well-defined edge to portions of this Milky Way background and there is a small extension to the west near the star at the NW vertex. Listed as nonexistent in RNGC, though may be a true cluster. Located just east of Sh 2-54, a large, faint HII complex and the slightly enhanced Milky Way background may be caused by the glow of Sh 2-54.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb