John Herschel discovered NGC 3255 = h3253 on 4 Feb 1835 (sweep 543) and described "a very compressed knot or cluster of milky way stars, 4' in diameter, somewhat insulated from the rest. Stars .. 15th mag." Pietro Baracchi wrote "a knot of stars 15m amidst the multitude of stars of the Milky Way - no properly a cluster. Rather a group hardly more conspicuous than many other groups of stars hereabout." (28 Jan 1886, Melbourne telescope). This small cluster shows up fairly well on the DSS.

300/350mm - 14" (4/4/16 - Coonabarabran, 145x and 178x): small, glowing spot only 1' diameter at 145x. A half-dozen stars are resolved over haze at 178x. A mag 12.5-13 star is at the southeast edge and a mag 13.5 star is on the south side of the main clump. Most of the others are mag 14-14.5.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb