William Herschel discovered NGC 2421 = H VII-67 = h3089 on 30 Jan 1799 (sweep 1089) and described "a cluster of compressed stars, considerably rich." JH recorded it from the Cape of Good Hope as "a large fine rich cluster, not much compressed, but nearly filling the field. Stars 11..13th mag, no conspicuous star, place that of a coarse double stars 11th mag."

200/250mm - 8" (1/1/84): almost three dozen faint stars, triangular-shape, rich field.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/7/92): about 60 mag 10-14 stars in a 10' field. Many stars are similar magnitudes and the cluster is pretty evenly distributed. Brighter stars at the borders give a triangular outline including mag 10.5 stars at the SW, SE and NE edges. A wide brighter double star (ARA 962 = 10.9/11.5 at 18") oriented N-S lies NE of center and two faint companions are also near.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb