Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 1586 on 30 Dec 1861 with the 11" refractor at Copenhagen and recorded (rough Latin translation) "faint, irregular, in line with a double star and a mag 14 star. Searched again on night 93 (for this object) in vain." There is nothing near his single position and Copeland, using the 72" at Birr Castle, reported "Not found, sky very clear".

But 15' north-northeast is UGC 3062 and a wide double star is 14' northwest, along with a mag 14.5 star at the northwest end. All major catalogues (except MCG) correctly identify NGC 1586 = UGC 3062.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/1/92): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NNW-SSE. Bracketed by two very faint mag 14.5/15 stars close off the WNW end and 30" off the SSE end. A wide evenly matched mag 11 pair at 1.3' separation lies 7.5' NW and is collinear with the galaxy. Uncertain identification in the RNGC, UGC, CGCG.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb