Described by WH (VIII 49) as "A cluster of coursely scattered large stars, not rich" and by JH (h391) as "a v coarse straggling cl 10' diam; 30 or 40 stars 10...15m. A *10m taken, but one of 7m precedes to the north." Listed as nonexistent in the RNGC.

William Herschel discovered NGC 2240 = H VIII-49 = h391 on 3 Jan 1786 (sweep 509) and reported "A cluster of coursely scattered large stars, not rich." On 17 Feb 1828 (sweep 124), John Herschel described "a v coarse straggling cl 10' diam; 30 or 40 stars 10...15m. A *10m taken, but one of 7m precedes to the N." Karl Reinmuth gives a diameter of 10' and description "Cl, pL, iR, pP, sc, st 10...; bet BD +35 1436 and BD +35 1444.", based on its photographic appearance. RNGC classifies the number as nonexistent as this object may be an asterism.

400/500mm - 18" (1/26/09): at 175x this is a fairly course, scattered group of three dozen mag 10-13 stars in a 10' region. Located just following mag 6.8 HD 46050. Many of the stars are in pairs and in conjunction with the nearby bright star probably caught William Herschel's attention. Also in the field is mag 7.0 HD 46072 about 12' SSW of the center of the star group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb