John Herschel discovered NGC 290 = h2357 in the SMC on 11 Apr 1834 and simply logged "eF". His position (single sweep) is about 35" N of the cluster.

400/500mm - 18" (7/10/05 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): fairly faint, very small, granular, 20" diameter, brighter core. A faint star or knot is at the north edge (may be a compact HII region). A pair of mag 10/11 stars 8' NE are collinear with the cluster. LHA 115-N45 (cluster with nebulosity) lies 4.5' SE. This SMC HII region and cluster appeared as a faint, elongated patch with a few faint stars resolved around the edges.

600/800mm - 25" (10/17/17 - OzSky): at 244x; bright, fairly small, irregular, triangular shaped, 40" diameter. A star or quasi-stellar knot is at the north tip. SMC-N45, located 4.5' SE, appeared bright, moderately large, irregular or triangular in shape, 35"-40" diameter. Several very faint stars are superimposed or at the edges of the glow including a couple of mag 15 stars at the south edge and a couple of mag 15.5 stars at the east edge. Two mag 13/14 stars lie 0.8' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb