John Herschel discovered NGC 2849 = h3160 on 22 Jan 1838 (his last sweep at the Cape of Good Hope) and noted a "globular cluster, eF, R, vglbM; resolved into vS, but not very numerous stars; 2.5' diameter. It is rather a cluster of the 6th class than a globular cluster." His position is just off the southwest side of the small cluster. NGC 2849 and NGC 3120 were the last two southern objects that JH discovered.

600/800mm - 24" (2/22/14): at 200x appeared as a mottled 2' glow with only a few stars resolved. At 260x, roughly 20 stars pop in and out of view, some in small knots, in only a 2.5' region. Several resolved stars are along an E-W string on the north side. A number of bright stars are in the field including mag 9.3 HD 80623 3' SE and a similar star 3' NE. A striking 25" linear triple of mag 10.5-11 stars lies 3' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb