William Herschel discovered NGC 2459 = H III-479 = h468 on 26 Dec 1785 (sweep 494) and noted "suspected. eF, vS, lE, but may be a deception." John Herschel observed it on 18 Jan 1828 (sweep 120) as "a large group of small stars which has a nebulous look, and perhaps there may be neb among them. No other near." On a later sweep he wrote "a small group of stars; with attention counted 5 with power 320; form a neb group 20" diameter.

This asterism was observed 6 times at Birr Castle and last noted by Dreyer as a "vs Cl of 5 st, no neby seen." Dreyer also added a note in the IC 1 that "No nebulosity, only a couple of faint stars seen by Spitaler." Karl Reinmuth described the photographic appearance in "Die Herschel-Nebel" as "a small group of 5 stars 13.7...15.5" and Harold Corwin agrees with this description.

400/500mm - 17.5" (2/22/03): this very small group of 5 faint mag 14-15 stars within 30" was just resolved at 220x . At low power it appeared like a nebulous spot. Although this may be a multiple star, it's likely just a compact asterism.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb