Heinrich d'Arrest discovered NGC 590 on 22 Sep 1865 with the 11-inch refractor at Copenhagen. His single position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/26/92): fairly faint, small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, broad concentration, faint almost stellar nucleus, rich star field. There is a group of mag 10 stars in the field to the north including mag 10 stars 2.1' ENE, 3.2' N and 4.5' NNE.

600/800mm - 24" (11/7/18): at 200x; moderately bright, fairly small, very elongated 3:1 NNW-SSE, 0.9'x0.3', sharply concentrated with a bright elongated core and a much fainter halo. Siutated in a rich star field with four mag 10 stars within 5'.

Forms a pair with CGCG 537-012 2.3' WNW. The companion (same redshift) appeared nearly fairly faint, small, round, 20" diameter, very small brighter nucleus.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb