William Herschel discovered NGC 2608 = H II-318 = h512 on 12 Mar 1785 (sweep 385) and noted "F, pL, lE, mbM, r." His position was ~14 seconds of time west of UGC 4484.

The galaxy was observed 8 times at Birr Castle and spiral structure was highly suspected several times. On 14 Feb 1857, the observing assistant noted "..twist [spiral arms] in the nebulosity p and f the nucleus, most apparent preceding." and the 1 Feb 1856 observation reads "E nearly p f, the p half is much the brighter and I think has curve in it [in a sketch there appears a dark space p the Nucl].

Two supernovae have been discovered: Max Wolf discovered SN 1920A (considered anomalous) and Type Ia SN 2001bg.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/18/85): fairly faint, moderately large, elongated 2:1 WSW-ENE, small bright core. Two mag 11 and 12.5 stars are 5' S with separation 1.3'. NGC 2619 lies 33' ENE.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/19/01): Supernova 2001 bg (discovered on May 8, 2001) visible as a mag 14 star at the southeast edge of the galaxy [22" E and 19" S of center].

Notes by Steve Gottlieb