Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered NGC 2477 = Lac I-3 = D 535 = h3103 in 1751-1752 using a 1/2-inch telescope at 8x during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope. He recorded a "large nebula 15' to 20' diameter." James Dunlop described this cluster as "a pretty large faint nebula, easily resolvable into small stars, or rather a cluster of very small stars, with a small faint nebula near the north preceding side, which is rather difficult to resolve into exceedingly small stars. This is probably two clusters or nebula in the same line; the small nebula is probably three times the distance of the large nebula." Dunlop's position for D 535 is ~12' NW of center of the cluster.

John Herschel lists 3 observations in his Cape catalogue: on 1 Feb 1835 he recorded "Cluster 6th class, bright, large, rich, not very highly condensed in the middle. Stars very remarkably equal. All 12 or 13th mag. Very few 14th mag; none 11th mag. A fine object." On a second sweep he described it as "a very beautiful large cluster, very rich; stars nearly equal, and 12th mag, gbm, not much compressed in the middle; more than fills the field. (N.B. It is visible in the finder of the equatorial, and in the telescope of that instrument appears as a fine cluster." Finally on his last sweep he described it as a "Superb cluster, gbM, 20' diameter, much more than fills the whole field. Stars 10 and 11th mag all nearly equal."

200/250mm - 8" (3/28/81): beautiful, large cluster, very rich in faint stars mag 11-13 over unresolved haze. A mag 4 star is at the south edge.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/18/04 - Costa Rica): remarkably rich carpet of mag 11-13 stars at 105x with perhaps 250-300 stars resolved in a 25' field. The appearance is very similar to a highly resolved globular without a sharply concentrated core. There are no distinct boundaries as stars loop outside the main group and many stars are arranged in long streamers. Located roughly 20' N of a mag 4.5 star (HD 64503 = b Puppis).

13.1" (12/22/84): superb cluster, over 200 stars resolved in a 25' diameter, very rich in mag 11-14 stars. Appears similar to NGC 7789 or a rich resolved globular cluster. Located just north of b Puppis (V = 4.5). This is one of the top open clusters in the sky despite the very low elevation!

600/800mm - 25" (4/6/19 - OzSky): at 244x; this amazing cluster filled the 25' field from edge to edge! The central 7' was extremely dense and still very rich all the way out. There are a couple of dozen 11th mag stars and over 500 stars from mag 12-15.5. It really looked superb - like an extremely large, loose concentration class, highly resolved globular cluster.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb