George Johnstone Stoney, Lord Rosse's assistant, discovered NGC 5889 on 25 Apr 1851. While observing NGC 5886 and 5888.he noticed an "eeF patch, glbM, same distance nf [NGC 5888, as[NGC 5888 is from NGC 5886]."

The RNGC and RC3 position or identification is incorrect. PGC 54317 is mentioned in the UGC notes to[NGC 5888 but it is not identified as NGC 5889.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): extremely faint, small, appears very elongated SSW-NNE but difficult to pin down the orientation due to faintness and only visible for moments using averted. Collinear with NGC 5888 4.1' SSW and mag 8.7 SAO 45437 7.5' SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb