John Herschel discovered NGC 2011 = h2899 on 31 Jan 1835 and logged "vB; S; R; psmbM; 25"." His single position is accurate.

600/800mm - 30" (11/5/10 - Coonabarabran, 264x): very bright, tight intense knot of four stars (a couple are quite bright) enveloped in a 1.5' triangular glow with a few additional stars resolved within the boundaries of the emission nebula. A 3' line of brighter stars (part of the stellar association LH 75) oriented E-W passes through the south end of the glow. The surrounding fields include a number of fascinating objects with a cluster and star cloud ~6' E (S-L 567), a bright, compact cluster/nebula 8' NE (NGC 2021), a large bright cluster/nebula 10' S (NGC 2014), a large ring-shaped emission nebula (NGC 2020) 12' SSE and the Seagull Nebula complex (NGC 2030/2032/2035) 17' E. NGC 2011 is embedded in the OB association LH 75.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb