John Herschel discovered NGC 2409 = h3086 on 12 Feb 1836 and noted "a small but brillliant group of 6 or 8 large stars, 8, 9, 10m, within a very small compass." His position matches this small, bright group of stars. While observing with the 72", Dreyer called this group "only 4 stars 9...11 mag and some fainter ones. I suppose there are millions of such clusters." Herbert Howe noted it "Consists of 10 scattered stars." This knot of stars is plotted on Norton's Star Atlas but RNGC classifies the number as nonexistent (Type 7).

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/9/02): small, bright, distinctive group of 8 stars mag 9-11.5 in a 2' knot. Includes two mag 9 stars in a small quadrilateral and two other pairs. Stands out well in the field, though seems too sparse to be a real cluster (Bochum 4).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb