Édouard Stephan discovered NGC 2581 = St XIII-38 on 7 Mar 1885 and measured an accurate position. This is one of the last few galaxies discovered by Stephen. Max Wolf's IC 2351, found on Heidelberg plates, refers to a mag 16 star at the southwest edge (30" SSW of center), and UGC, CGCG and MCG mislabel the galaxy as IC 2351 instead of NGC 2581.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/1/92): faint, small, round, fairly low even surface brightness. A mag 13 star is 2.0' N and a mag 14 star is 1.5' NE of center. Outlying member of Cancer I galaxy cluster. Incorrectly identified in the UGC, CGCG and MCG as IC 2351.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb