William Herschel discovered NGC 600 = H III-432 on 10 Sep 1785 (sweep 435) and simply noted as "eF". John Herschel made no observations of this low surface brightness galaxy and it was probably missed at Birr Castle. The single observation on 29 Nov 1850 with Lord Rosse's 72" commented "searched for 20' sf [NGC 596], doubtful whether found, perhaps it was a vF stellar object 2.5' S of a *13m and about 6' S of a *10m." This appears to refer to a 15th mag star and not the galaxy.

Based on photographs taken at the Helwan Observatory between 1914-16, NGC 600 was described as "vF, 2' x 1', nucleus elongated 20°, giving this spiral an almost Phi-type [barred] appearance."

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/26/92): faint, fairly large, round, 2.5' diameter. Appears as a low surface brightness glow without core or structure.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb