William Herschel discovered NGC 5265 = H III-410 = h1659 on 1 May 1785 (sweep 405) and recorded "vF, S, lE, er." JH made two observations and reported on sweep 71 "F; pL; r; has a star near."

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/12/99): faint, small, elongated 4:3 SSW-NNE, 0.6'x0.45', weak concentration to round core. A mag 14 star is attached at the north end 27" from center. Located 8.5' S of mag 9 SAO 63677. A string of five stars including two wide mag 13 and 14 pairs leads directly from the mag 9 star to NGC 5265.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb