John Herschel discovered NGC 2056 = h2932 on 23 Dec 1834 and recorded "pB, R, bM, the preceding of 2 [with NGC 2075] on the same parallel; a star 9 mag between." His position is ~30" SE of center of this cluster.

600/800mm - 24" (11/18/12 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): very bright, fairly large, 1.2' diameter, very high surface brightness core, mottled and clumpy halo with a couple of mag 15.5-16 stars resolved around the edges. Second of three with NGC 2038 11' NW and NGC 2075 9' ESE. Mag 9.3 HD 38174 is near the midpoint of NGC 2056 and 2075. Mag 10.5 HD 269825 lies 3.6' SSW and a mag 11 star is 2.5' N.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb