William Herschel discovered NGC 5289 = H II-668 = h1666 on 9 Apr 1787 (sweep 725) and recorded "F, E in the parallel [E-W]; a small miniature of the following [NGC 5290]."

200/250mm - 8" (5/26/84): very faint, small, elongated ~E-W. Accidentally picked up viewing NGC 5290 13' N.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/7/97): fairly faint, thin edge-on 6:1 WNW-ESE, 1.8'x0.3', sharply concentrated with a nearly stellar core. In same field with brighter edge-on NGC 5290 13' N. Member of the NGC 5371 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb