NGC 4598 is a barred lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. NGC 4598 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 15, 1784. The distance to NGC 4598 has not been accurately determined; measurements vary from 64 to 102 million light-years. According to the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, its redshift based distance is while its redshift independent based distance is . Also, according to SIMBAD, its distance is . NGC 4598's average distance is . NGC 4598 is usually considered to be a member of the Virgo Cluster. However, P. Fouquôe et al. suggests it may be a background galaxy independent of the main cluster.