John Herschel discovered NGC 411 = h2384 in Sep 1835 and recorded "vF, pL, R, vlbM; 2'." His position is accurate. On a second sweep he recorded a similar description and position, but Harold Corwin found the RA minute (1 tmin too large) was miscopied into his table of "Stars, Nebulae, and Clusters in the Nubecula Minor" and it later received the designations GC 231 and NGC 422. So, NGC 411 = NGC 422, with NGC 411 the primary designation. See entry for NGC 422.

James Dunlop possibly discovered NGC 411 = D 56 or D 57 in 1826 with his 9" reflector and described "a small faint nebula" and "a small faint nebula, about 15" diameter." The first entry is 16.6' SSE of the cluster and the second entry is 19' SE, both far enough off and a vague enough descriptions that neither is very secure.

400/500mm - 18" (7/11/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): fairly faint, moderately large, round, 1.2' diameter. At 228x, appeared as a low surface brightness glow with a very weak concentration and no sign of resolution. Located 5' NW of mag 8.6 HD 7031 and 19' NE of NGC 395. Viewed through thin haze.

18" (7/6/02 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): this fairly faint SMC cluster was immediately noticed in the same lower power field while viewing NGC 395/IC 1624 about 20' SW. At 128x it appeared fairly small, round, ~1.5' diameter, mottled but with no resolution. Located 5.3' NW of mag 8.6 HD 7031 and 13' ESE of mag 7.4 HD 6623.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb