The planetary nebula NGC 2452 was discovered during sweep 769 in 1837 by John Herschel from Cape of Good Hope using his 18.7" refractor. Unfortunately I have not been able to find the exact date of the discovery because the dates of the sweeps are not publicly available. By the way, the entry on NGC 2452 in wikipedia states 1847 but this is not correct. That year the book about his observations at Cape of Good Hope, written by John Herschel himself, was published and not the actual discovery itself.
The nebula itself is fairly large and contains a lot of detail. However, due to its southern declination it is as challenging as observing a planet when it is located in Sagittarius. Perhaps even more challenging because of the lower total magnitude and therefore surface brightness.
My notes from March 30, 2016, using my 20" telescope read:
At 320x and 427x visible as a small nebula with a complex structure. At 320x it appears oval with a bright patch at the south end and a slightly fainter patch at the north end with a dark area between them. At 427x it appears round with a bar running north to south and a small dark hole at the center. The south patch again is brightest and seems to be composed of two starlike blobs. The seeing is not very good so all details are smeared out a bit.
As always,
"Give it a go and let us know!
Good luck and great viewing!"
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