John Herschel discovered NGC 2041 = h2919 on 2 Nov 1834 and described as "B, S, vgbM, 20"." On a second sweep he noted "a rich clustering part precedes." His position (measured on 4 sweeps) is accurate. Wolfgang Steinicke and Glen Cozens both credit James Dunlop with the discovery on 6 Nov 1826. His entry for D 241 describes "a large cluster of small stars of mixt magnitudes in strong nebula; irregular extended figure." His position is 6.6' NW of the cluster, but his description implies a much larger object - like NGC 2027/2034 and the position is a closer match.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/20/04 - Costa Rica): at 105x, this LMC cluster appears bright, fairly small, round, 1' diameter, high surface brightness. Symmetrical appearance and increases to a very small bright core and a stellar nucleus. This young, massive cluster is located ~7' SE of the elongated cluster NGC 2034 at the east end of the very large, extended collection of associations (the "Quadrant") that includes NGC 2026 and 2002 on the western side.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb