William Herschel discovered NGC 5343 = H II-308 = h1692 on 5 Mar 1785 (sweep 380) and logged "vF, S, lbM, irreg." JH made the single observation "vF; S; R; bM. Dull and murky sky." and measured a fairly accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/14/96): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 4:3 SW-NE, 1.2'x0.9'. Well concentrated with a bright core increasing to a non-stellar nucleus.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb