It was discovered on 26 February 1783[4] by Caroline Herschel, who described it as a "beautiful cluster of pretty compressed stars near 1/2 degree in diameter".

[4] The cluster lies 3.5 degrees east of Gamma Canis Majoris and less than one degree northwest of the eclipsing binary star R Canis Majoris; it has a combined apparent magnitude of 7.2.

[2] By the western edge of the cluster is the unrelated star, 5.5-magnitude HD 56405.

[6] American astronomer Olin J. Eggen surveyed the cluster in 1968, concluding that the brightest star in the field, magnitude-8.96 HD 56847, is likely to lie in the field and not a true member of the cluster.

[9] By analysing the masses of the smallest stars that have evolved into red giants—namely, stars of 1.8 or 1.9 solar masses—Swiss astronomers Jean-Claude Mermilliod and Michel Mayor were able to date the age of the cluster at 2.2 billion years.