George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 5683, along with NGC 5682 and 5693, on 13 Apr 1850. He was observing the field of NGC 5689. He noted three nova, labeled A = NGC 5682, B = NGC 5683 and C = NGC 5693, which he called "faint" and placed them reasonably accurately in his sketch.

MCG reverses the dimensions of NGC 5682 and NGC 5683 and the RC3 dimensions are too large.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/27/98): extremely faint and small, round, ~15" diameter. Forms a close pair with NGC 5682 1.3' NW and required careful viewing at 280x to clearly resolve the pair. Member of the NGC 5689 group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb