William Herschel discovered NGC 2595 = H III-599 = h506 on 11 Jan 1787 (sweep 683) and noted "eF, pL, resolvable." He made this observation after he viewed Uranus and discovered the moons Titania and Oberon! John Herschel logged it on 24 Feb 1827 (sweep 59) as "vF; irreg fig; has a coarse double star 30° s p, 2' dist [HJ 448]." Five observations were made at Birr Castle as well as a sketch and the note from 14 Feb 1857 "Query: some vF neby reaches to np side" probably refers to the northern spiral arm.

400/500mm - 17.5" (1/1/92): fairly faint, moderately large, irregularly round. Unusual appearance with a very compact bright core displaced towards the NE end. Also a mag 14 star is superimposed close northeast of the core. The halo appears more extensive to the southwest. Located 2.2' NE of double star HJ 448 = 8.9/10.7 at 31". Outlying member of Cancer I galaxy cluster.

600/800mm - 24" (2/24/20): fairly bright, large, well concentrated with a small bright core that hints of detail, A low surface brightness halo fades into the background but extends ~2'x1.5'. A mag 14 star is superimposed [40" NNE of center]. A mag 9.0 star (HD 71324) is 2.2' SW.

UGC 4414, a ring galaxy 13' NW, appeared as a bright stellar nucleus that dominated faint "wings" (bar) oriented SSW-NNE. Occasionally this is surrounded by a very low surface brightness halo, but was not resolved as a distinct ring.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb