Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 587 on 27 Aug 1862 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. His single position is 4.5' south of UGC 1100 = PGC 5746, an unusually large error, though there are no other candidates nearby.

The CGCG, UGC and PGC label this galaxy IC 1713, although according to Malcolm Thomson, Bigourdan's micrometric position for Big. 247 = IC 1713 on 28 Nov 1891 clearly refers to a faint star near NGC 587. Bigourdan also determined the position of NGC 587 so NGC 587 cannot be equal to IC 1713. See Corwin's notes.

400/500mm - 17.5" (12/23/89): fairly faint, fairly small, oval WSW-ENE, even surface brightness.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb