10x30mm Canon IS (3/27/19 - Tasmania): faint, small glow attached to a bright star (BZ Crucis).

James Dunlop discovered NGC 4609 = D 272 = h3407 on 12 May 1826 with his 9-inch f/12 homemade speculum reflector from Parramatta, New South Wales and recorded "a group of five stars of the 8th or 9th magnitude, with a great number of extremely small stars resembling faint nebulae. 3' or 4' diameter." His position is about 9' too far west. JH called it a "Cluster class VII. Stars 11..13th mag; about 6' long and 4' broad; has 10 stars 11th mag, and some 20 or 30 smaller. It occurs in the midst of the black space following Alpha Crucis, which is by no means void of stars."

300/350mm - 13.1" (2/20/04 - Costa Rica): at 166x, 30 stars mag 9.5-13 are resolved in a 4'-5' region. Most of the stars are arranged in a curving lane ~NNW-SSE with fainter stars trailing off to the NNW and a few stars scattered to the east. The main string is oriented roughly N-S and bends towards the east on the north side. The cluster includes some doubles and triples with a nice mag 10.5 star pair at 15" and a distinctive triple on the south end of the lane. Situtated just 7' NW of mag 5.3 BZ Crucis = HD 110432. This star is located within the Coal Sack, 1.8 degrees east of Acrux, and is the only easy naked-eye star with the Coal Sack! The cluster resides behind the Coal Sack and is dimmed accordingly.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb