80mm (3/2/08): faintly visible in the finder at 25x as a thin, elongated glow N-S.

William Herschel discovered NGC 2432 = H VI-36 = h3092 on 4 Mar 1790 (sweep 934) and described a "very compressed cluster of small, and some large stars; extended nearly in the meridian; the most compressed part is about 8' long and 2' broad, with many stars scattered around it to a considerable distance." In his 1814 PT paper, Herschel speculated "the construction of this cluster may have arisen from the situation of many stars in the same plane, drawn towards a centre by the clustering power, for any plane seen obliquely will have the appearance of an extended form." From the Cape of Good Hope, JH called this "a rather irregular cluster of 8th class, pretty much compressed. The most compressed part forms a ridge or body of stars elongated in the meridian. Stars 12..15th mag with larger outliers."

200/250mm - 8" (3/28/81): rich in faint stars or haze, small, elongated.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/11/86): three dozen faint stars mag 12-15 in a very elongated string oriented N-S with dimensions 5'x1.5'. This is a rich, pretty group with several pairs.

13.1" (1/18/85): ~35 faint stars in an elongated string along one side of bright trapezoid of stars.

400/500mm - 18" (3/2/08): at 175x, appears a very distinctive 5' N-S string with a total of ~60 stars resolved in a 5'x3' area. The richest part is along the string with numerous mag 13-14.5 stars packed tightly. The north side of the string bifurcates into two prongs.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb