William Denning discovered IC 499 on 8 Sep 1890 with his 10-inch reflector while sweeping for comets. He noted it was in the same field as IC 512 and called it "pretty faint, small and much brighter in the middle. There is a telescopic star just on its N. side, and an exceedingly faint star is involved with the nebula, which lies in an irregular widely scattered group. It bears magnifying well, and is relatively much brighter than IC 512]."

400/500mm - 18" (8/1/11): moderately bright, moderately large, slightly elongated ~E-W, ~50"x35". Very low surface brightness outer halo with a fairly bright central region that is sharply concentrated to a very small bright nucleus. A mag 14 star is superimposed on the SW side and a brighter mag 12 star is off the NE side, 1.2' from center. Located 5.7' SW of mag 8.5 SAO 1370. UGC 4297 lies 20' SW. This is the closest IC galaxy to the north celestial pole!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb