James Dunlop discovered NGC 3324 = D 322 = h3286 on 1 May 1826 and described a "star of the 7th magnitude, involved in faint nebula." His position was roughly 6' NW of center of the nebula.

John Herschel credited Dunlop with the discovery and reported on 1 Apr 1834 "A double star involved in nebula, which is one of the outliers of the great nebula about Eta Argus. It extends to a star 6.7 mag half a field distant southwards, and almost as far north; pretty bright; irregular figure; fine object."

IC 2599, found by Williamina Fleming on a Harvard College Observatory plate in May 1893, refers to the southern portion of this nebula.

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/18/04 - Costa Rica): striking HII region and cluster 30' SE of NGC 3293 and 90' NW of the center of the Eta Carina nebula! (this is an outlying piece of the Eta Carina complex) At 105x and UHC filter this huge, elongated, irregular nebula is quite bright, perhaps 15'x6' in size and tapers towards the south end where mag 5.5 HD 92207 is embedded. The nebula widens to a well-defined bulbous mass on the north end. Faint nebulosity hooks off the north end and spreads to the east and northeast. This HII region is ionized by mag 8 HD 92206 = h4338 (an 8.2/9.2 pair at 5") situated near the center of the nebula. Unfiltered, a scattered group of stars is superimposed but this just appears to be a random star grouping in the Carina section of the Milky Way.

600/800mm - 24" (4/11/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): I only took a quick look at the "Gabriela Mistral" Nebula at 200x and a UHC filter, but the brightest portion appeared like a cartoon drawing of a whale with a huge, very bright bulbous "head" forming the northern end of the nebula. The brightest portion is perhaps 15'x6' in size, but quite an extensive amount of fainter nebulosity spreads out the east and southeast of the main body, significantly increasing the size to ~15'x11', elongated N-S. Some faint nebulosity also spreads to the west of the main portion. At the south end is the mag 5.5 star HD 92207.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb