?douard Stephan discovered NGC 1580 = St VIIIb-15 on 18 Jan 1877 with the 31" reflector at the Marseille Observatory. His position matches MCG -01-12-011.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/11/96): faint, fairly small, irregularly round, 50" diameter. Broad concentration with a brighter center but no well-defined core. A mag 15 star is just off the following end 48" from center and a mag 14 star is 1.4' WNW. There is an 30" pair of mag 12/13.5 stars ~3' SE. Located 10' NNE of mag 9 SAO 131233, which is at the edge of the 220x field, and 1 degree west of the NGC 1600 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb