Sherburne Burnham discovered NGC 5165 on 5 May 1883 with the 18.5-inch Clark refractor at Dearborn Observatory while searching for d'Arrest's comet. George Hough included it in a list of new nebulae found at the observatory and called it "very fant, condensed at center. *8m follows 29 seconds and 5' north." The star is Bu 113, a mag 8.7/10.7 pair at 1.7". Wilhelm Tempel independently found the galaxy just 6 days later on 11 May 1883, also searching for the comet, and reported it in his 8th ldiscovery ist (#1).

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/27/95): faint, small, round, 30" diameter, very weak concentration. Located 8.3' SW of mag 8.7 SAO 100590. NGC 5162 is in the field 10.8' SE. The NGC 5171 group lies 25' NNE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb