10x30mm Canon IS (3/27/19 - Tasmania): fairly faint, large glow, appears oval or elongated. No resolution except for a star at the edge.

James Dunlop discovered NGC 4349 = D292 on 30 Apr 1826 and described "a pretty cluster of extremely small stars, resembling a pretty large faint nebula, about 6' or 7' diameter: the compression is very gradual to the centre; a pretty bright star is in the following side of the cluster, round figure." His position was quite accurate (about 4' SE of the center of the cluster near the brightest member). The position here corresponds with the densest portion of the cluster.

JH observed the cluster on three sweeps. On 14 Mar 1834 he logged "chief star 10m of a fine rich cluster which fills field." Two weeks later (31 Mar 1834) he noted "a large loose cluster of small stars 12..14th mag; irregularly round; not very rich; little compressed in the middle; diam. 10'." His final sweep three years later described a "cluster class VI. Very large, very bright, A star about 8..9 mag taken but the brightest part of the cluster is about 4' N.p. Fills field; not much compressed in the middle; stars 12..13th mag; This cluster was found by Mr Maclear in this sweep made with him, not being aware at the time of its having been seen in Sweep 432."

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/20/04 - Costa Rica): at 105x, ~150 stars are resolved in a 15' field. This cluster is rich and uniform in magnitudes except for a single mag 8.4 star (HD 107944) on the SE side which stands out over the large number of mag 10.5-12.5 stars. The outline is elongated NW to SE but the stars are distributed fairly evenly within the boundaries. This is a very pleasing group and an easy binocular object. Located along the western side of the Southern Cross and 75' NNW of Alpha Crucis (Acrux)!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb