10x30 Canon IS (7/10/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this is a prominent naked-eye cluster below the "False Cross" (formed by Epsilon and Iota Car as well as Delta and Kappa Vel), on a line with the longer axis (Epsilon Car and Kappa Vel) of the cross. In binoculars, it appeared well-resolved, ~50' diameter including outliers with 5 bright stars (mag 6.5-7.5) with a couple of dozen stars resolved overall. Appears fairly rich towards the center with a number of mag 8-10 stars.

10x30mm Canon IS (3/28/19 - Tasmania): very bright naked-eye cluster, gorgeous even at 10x with a couple of dozen stars resolved, 40'-50' diameter, many brighter stars around the periphery, but richer towards the center.

Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered NGC 2516 = Lac II-3 = h3111 in 1751-1752 using a 1/2-inch telescope at 8x during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope. He noted a "Group of 10 to 12 stars, very compressed." NGC 2516 was not published in Dunlop's main catalogue but his handwritted notes read "Very fine cluster about 35' diameter, many of the stars of the 6th and 7th magnitude, mixed magnitudes. Figure irregular branched."

JH observed the cluster a number of times with his 18-inch f/13 speculum telescope at the CGH. His first record reads: "An orange-coloured star 8th magnitude, in middle of a large and magnificent cluster of perhaps 200 to 250 stars 8..16th mag. Many of the larger magnitudes, and really a superb object. Very visible to the naked eye, etc."

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/30/06 - Costa Rica): very bright naked-eye cluster located 3° SW of Epsilon Car (southern star in the False Cross). Appears partially resolved in the 9x50 finder and an excellent view using the 15x50 IS binoculars. The cluster fills over half of the 20mm Nagler field, ~30'-35' diameter with over 100 stars resolved. The outline is quite irregular though well-detached at low power. A mag 5.2 M-type giant orange star (V460 = HD 66342) lies at the NE edge of the cluster. The central region is more concentrated and uniform and includes a number of tinted yellow or orange stars. A nice triple star (h4027 = 7.1/7.8/9.3 at 9" and 20") is on the west edge of the cluster and an excellent double (h4031 = 7.2/8.0 at 5") lies on the east side of the cluster. A long curving string starts in the center and heads NE to the mag 5.2 orange star. This string includes a 9" evenly matched pair of mag 9 stars (Innes 1104) that was resolved at low power. Mag 5.7 K-type orange subgiant HD 65662 is off the NW side of the cluster.

13.1" (2/17/04 - Costa Rica): this bright naked-eye cluster is located SW of the "False Cross" (3 degrees SW of 2nd-magnitude Epsilon Carinae) and is the only open cluster in western Carina. It was well resolved in the 9x50 finder. At 105x, the main group is 25'-30' with outliers increasing the size and roughly 100 stars are resolved including a number of mag 6-8 stars. Many of the stars are arranged in loops and strings and overall the cluster is quite irregular in magnitudes and star distributions. There is a close, fairly bright double on the SE side (7.2/8.0 at 5.5") and a neat 13' chain of stars near the west side running N-S.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb