William Herschel discovered NGC 599 = H II-473 = LM 2-310 on 27 Nov 1785 (sweep 478) and logged "F, S, iF, easily resolvable, some of the stars visible.". His position is fairly accurate. This is an S0 galaxy, so I wouldn't expect that Herschel would find it mottled or resolvable. Frank Muller independently found it again in 1886 at the Leander McCormick Observatory and it was recorded in list II-310 as mag 13.0, 0.8' dia, gbM.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/26/92): fairly faint, small, slightly elongated, weak concentration, in a poor star field. NGC 589 lies 10' NNW and NGC 593 12' SW. Forms a close pair with NGC 601 3.3' ESE (not seen but appears stellar on the POSS).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb