John Herschel discovered NGC 269 = h2353 on 5 Nov 1836 in the SMC and described as "vF; S; R; 30"." His position is accurate.

Pietro Barachhi observed this cluster on 16 and 17 Dec 1887, along with a number of other SMC clusters, with the 48" Melbourne telescope. He described NGC 269 (labeled as "L") as "F ,S , R, gbM. This follows K [Kron 25] by 21s and is 2' 40" south of it. A star 10m follows L by 64s and is 3' north of it."

400/500mm - 18" (7/10/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): at 228x, fairly faint, fairly small, round, 0.6' diameter, weak concentration but no core or resolution. A 2.5' string of three stars follows by 2'-3' and a mag 11 star lies 3' SE. Situated in a rich SMC star field 6' SE of NGC 265.

600/800mm - 25" (10/17/17 - OzSky): at 397x; bright, fairly large, round, 45" diameter. This SMC cluster contains a relatively large brighter core that appeared a little lively but showed no resolution. A mag 10.5 star is 3' SE. Kron 25, situated 3' NNW, appeared fairly faint, irregular glow, ~35" diameter, low surface brightness. NGC 269 is located in a rich SMC region with numerous clusters and nebulae to the north.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb