William Herschel discovered NGC 2254 = H VII-22 = h397 on 28 Dec 1785 (sweep 496) and noted "a small cluster of pretty compressed vS stars." His position is just west of center. On 8 Jan 1828 (sweep 118), John Herschel described "a pretty rich, small cluster; irreg fig; st 11...15m."

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/8/91): at 220x, about two dozen stars over haze in a 3'-4' diameter. About 6 stars of mag 13 form a "C" shaped asterism open on the east side. The brightest mag 13 star is on the NW side of this arc. The rest of cluster members are 14-15th magnitude.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb