John Herschel discovered NGC 3572 = h3323 on 14 Mar 1834 and noted "Middle of a tolerably rich cluster, class VIII." His position is good.

400/500mm - 18" (7/7/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 228x, this is an 8' irregular group of 80-100 stars including a mag 7.9 star on the west side and about a dozen mag 10 stars. A mag 6.7 star lies 11' SE of center outside of the apparent cluster (but part of Cr 240). A dark patch abuts the cluster and there is an impression of more bright and dark nebulosity in the field. At 128x with the UHC filter, the cluster is adjacent to a large field of faint nebulosity to the north (RCW 54) with the borders of the nebulosity seemingly obscured by dust. Located 16' NW of mag 4.6 HD 97534.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb