John Herschel discovered NGC 1859 = h2786 on 3 Dec 1834 and recorded "F; S; R; vgbM; 20"; has a *7m nf, dist 6'." His position and description is accurate.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/17/04 - Costa Rica): at 166x, this cluster appeared as a faint, fairly small, round, unresolved spot, roughly 0.5' diameter. Located 5.5' SSW of mag 7.0 SAO 249218 and 18' NW NGC 1866.

600/800mm - 30" (11/6/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): fairly bright, fairly small, round. A brighter "bar" oriented NW-SE runs through the center, 0.6' diameter. Appears very mottled with a few very faint stars resolved. Collinear with mag 7 HD 34349 5.5' NE and a mag 11.4 star 4.5' SW. NGC 1866 lies 18' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb