Andrew Cooper
Jan 13, 2022    Lawa'i Beach, Kauai, Hawaii (map)
8x42mm Nikon Prostaff 3S Binoculars @ 8x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Bright and obvious, resolved, a compact 30' diameter mass of stars 4° south of Sirius, always a good binocular object

Andrew Cooper
Feb 24, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 61x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A pretty cluster at low power, a hundred or so stars scattered in clumps across a 30' area, surrounded by a very rich galactic starfield

Andrew Cooper
Feb 6, 2018    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 127x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A nice cluster that fills the eyepiece, coarse, resolved, a hundred or so stars arranged in conpsicuous sweeps radiating out from the center

Andrew Cooper
Feb 14, 2016    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/10 SCT, Celestron C8 @ 57x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 5 Moon: 25%

Large, sparse, coarse, 30' in diameter, not a great target for a 2m focal length telescope, even a low power eyepiece barely fits the cluster.

Andrew Cooper
Jan 9, 2016    Kaʻohe, Mauna Kea, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 80x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A field of bright stars fills the entire width of the 35mm eyepiece, even at low power the cluster is wider than the field, stars arranged in distinct chains and clumps across the field, quite pretty!

Andrew Cooper
Sep 14, 2015    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
15cm f/5 Newtonian, Makaʻiki @ 19x
Seeing: 8 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A bright cluster 3° south of Sirius, coarse, fully resolved, almost 20' in diameter, an object best appreciated at lower powers

Andrew Cooper
Mar 1, 2011    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 60x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A fine cluster that fills the 1° field, rich, bright, visible to the unaided eye, a notable orange star at the center of the cluster also noted by Webb

Andrew Cooper
Nov 2, 2008    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
12x36 Canon Image Stabilized Binoculars @ 12x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A better binocular object than telescopic object, bright! visible to the unaided eye, a conspicuous object in the center of CMa below Sirius, rich, fully resolved, about ½° in diameter

Andrew Cooper
Feb 9, 2007    Waimea, HI (map)
76mm f/6 APO

Loose open cluster, sparse, a few dozen bright stars and very few dim members apparent, round, clumpy, fully resolved, 3° due south of Sirius in the center of CMa

Andrew Cooper
Oct 22, 2006    TIMPA, Avra Valley, AZ (map)
12x36 Canon Image Stabilized Binoculars

Bright, good sized, fully resolved, good bino object, east to find one field due south of Sirius

Andrew Cooper
Feb 5, 1998    Sycamore House, Tucson, AZ (map)
20cm f/10 SCT

Wide sparse cluster, 60 or so stars visible, brightest central star shows orange (with cluster?).

Rev. T.W. Webb
May 19, 1885    Hardwick, Herefordshire, England (map)
14cm f/15 Clarke Refractor

Superb group, visible to naked eye, '51, 4° beneath α. Larger stars in curves, with ruddy star (Es. var. ?) near centre, 5½-in. h. says the latter frequently occurs in clusters.

― Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, T. W. Webb, 1917

Captain William Henry Smyth
Mar 3, 1836    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A double star, in a scattered cluster, on the Greater Dog's chest. A 9, lucid white; B 10, pale white. This was registered by Messier in 1764, as a "mass of small stars;" but it is divided into five groups, of which the central one is the richest, and marked by three bright stars forming a crescent. In the np is the open double star which is here estimated; and 41 Messier may be struck upon by running a ray from Aldebaran, through ε in the centre of Orion's belt, and from thence between Sirius and Mirzam to about 4 in the south-east space beyond them. But as a beacon is rather acceptable in so low a declination, the tyro may hit his object by first directing his telescope charged with a low power upon Sirius, and then depressing it 4°5', when in about a minute a pair of 8th magnitudes will appear, constituting 233 and 236 P. Hora VI., and in about another minute, the cluster under discussion will follow.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

William Herschel
Oct 20, 1784    19 New King Street, Bath (map)

A large cluster of very coarsely scattered large stars.

Charles Messier
Jan 16, 1765    

Cluster of stars below Sirius, near Rho Canis Majoris; this cluster appears nebulous in an ordinary telescope of one foot; it is nothing more than a cluster of small stars.

― Connaissance des Temps, 1781

Aristotle
Unaided Eye

.. some of the fixed stars have tails. And for this we need not rely only on the evidence of the Egyptians who say they have observed it; we have observed it also ourselves. For one of the stars in the thigh of the Dog had a tail, though a dim one

― Meteorologica, Book I, Chapter 6

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

A complete list of credits and sources can be found on the about page