John Herschel discovered NGC 5269 = h3530 on 24 Apr 1835 (sweep 578) and recorded "Cl class VII; poor, L, loose ireg fig, fills field, st 12m." His position corresponds with a small group of stars about 13' west of NGC 5281. This object is probably just a Milky Way field and it is not listed in WEBDA as an open cluster. The RNGC description reads "NOCL ?"

300/350mm - 14" (4/4/16 - Coonabarabran, 178x): ~20 stars resolved in a 2.5' triangular region, including two mag 11-11.5 stars along the east side and a number of mag 12 stars. Not difficult to identify as fairly detached in the field but very unimpressive and appears to be an asterism. Most of the stars are in a southwest to northeast stream about 2.5' long and 30" wide. Located 5' NE of mag 8.6 HD 119271 and 13' due west of NGC 5281, a bright open cluster!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb