John Herschel discovered NGC 2197 = h3028 on 31 Jan 1835 and noted "vF; R; 40"." His mean position from two sweeps matches this LMC cluster.

300/350mm - 14" (4/3/16 - Coonabarabran, 178x): fairly faint, round, 35" diameter, even surface brightness, a mag 15 star is resolved at the north edge and one or two others occasionally pop. The galaxy ESO 86-59 is 3.8' SE (= HS 452 in Hodge-Wright Atlas), but was not noticed. NGC 2197 is situated 12' NNW of mag 6.7 HD 42701

Notes by Steve Gottlieb