John Herschel discovered NGC 1899 = h2821 on 30 Dec 1836 and reported as "F; R; vgbM; 40"; 3 stars 10' [approximate] mag precede."

Eric Lindsay reports "Not found" in his 1964 paper "Some NGC objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud". Nevertheless, there appears to be a small very faint star and nebulosity (Henize 120-N 36) on the red DSS2 2' SE of Herschel's position. The Hodge-Wright Atlas states "possibly Henize 36". Two mag 11 stars and a mag 12.7 star precede LHA 120-N 36, roughly agreeing with "3 stars 10' m precede." See Harold Corwin's notes for more on this number.

600/800mm - 30" (10/15/15 - OzSky): at 303x and 394x; no cluster or nebulous object was in the field at the nominal position, which included three mag 11 stars and the rest mag 13 and fainter. I see nothing that would have caught John Herschel's attention in the field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb