Williamina Fleming found IC 2599 = southern part of NGC 3324 on a plate taken in May 1893 at Harvard's Arequipa Station. In Annals of Harvard College Observatory, vol. 26, page 207, Pickering mentions it surrounds AGC 14525 (SAO 238271) and "has not received a number in Dreyer's catalog". But NGC 3324 (as described by John Herschel) extends as far as that star. So, IC 2599 is really part of NGC 3324.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/18/04 - Costa Rica): striking HII region and cluster 30' SE of NGC 3293 and 90' NW of the center of the Eta Carina nebula! (this is an outlying piece of the Eta Carina complex) At 105x and UHC filter this huge, elongated, irregular nebula is quite bright, perhaps 15'x6' in size and tapers towards the south end where mag 5.5 HD 92207 is embedded. The nebula widens to a well-defined bulbous mass on the north end. Faint nebulosity hooks off the north end and spreads to the east and northeast. This HII region is ionized by mag 8 HD 92206 = h4338 (an 8.2/9.2 pair at 5") situated near the center of the nebula. Unfiltered, a scattered group of stars is superimposed but this just appears to be a random star grouping in the Carina section of the Milky Way.

600/800mm - 24" (4/11/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): I only took a quick look at the "Gabriela Mistral" Nebula nebula at 200x and a UHC filter, but the brightest portion appeared like a cartoon drawing of a whale with a huge, very bright bulbous "head" forming the northern end of the nebula. The brightest portion is perhaps 15'x6' in size, but quite an extensive amount of fainter nebulosity spreads out the east and southeast of the main body, significantly increasing the size to ~15'x11', elongated N-S. Some faint nebulosity also spreads to the west of the main portion. At the south end is the mag 5.5 star HD 92207.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb