Albert Marth discovered NGC 7586 = m 557 on 2 Sep 1864 and noted "eF, vS, alm stellar." His position is less than 1' northwest of LEDA 1349697, an extremely compact galaxy. Bigourdan also made two observations of this galaxy as well as Hermann Kobold with the 18-inch refractor at Strasbourg. Karl Reinmuth appears to have identified this galaxy correctly in his 1926 Die Herschel-Nebel.

But RNGC, CGCG, PGC, HyperLeda misidentified the double system CGCG 406-045 as NGC 7586. This galaxy is located 20' south of Marth's and Bigourdan's position. Malcolm Thomson discussed this identification in Q. Jl R. astr. Soc. (1991), 32, 17-24 and his unpublished "Catalogue Corrections".

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/18/95): very faint, very small, round, 20" diameter, slight central brightening. Located 3.8' NW of mag 9 SAO 128097 and collinear with a mag 12 star 1.3' SE of the mag 9 star. RNGC and CGCG misidentify CGCG 406-045 as NGC 7586.

600/800mm - 24" (8/29/19): at 375x; between faint and fairly faint, small, round, 25" diameter halo, very small brighter core, occasional faint stellar nucleus. Easily seen 3.8' NW of a mag 9.3 star. This galaxy lies in the bacground of the Pegasus I cluster.

CGCG 406-45, misidentified as NGC 7586 in the CGCG, RNGC and PGC, is noticeably fainter and appeared very faint (V = 15.7), round, ~20" diameter, very low surface brightness. Located 20' SSE of NGC 7586.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb