William Herschel discovered NGC 2599 = H III-234 = h507 on 16 Nov 1784 (sweep 318) and noted "vF, stellar." His position (Caroline Herschel's reduction) was 8 sec of RA west and 3.5' N of UGC 4458, a similar offset as NGC 2577, the previous discovery in the sweep.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/28/92): fairly faint, small, round, small high surface brightness core, stellar nucleus embedded, only a small halo visible.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb