It was Karl Gordon Henize in 1967 who first described NGC 5189 as quasi-planetary based on its spectral emissions.

The S shape, together with point-symmetric knots in the nebula, have for a long time hinted to astronomers that a binary central star is present.

[2] The Hubble Space Telescope imaging analysis showed that this S shape structure is indeed two dense low-ionization regions: one moving toward the north-east and another one moving toward the south-west of the nebula,[3] which could be a result of a recent outburst from the central star.

Observations with the Southern African Large Telescope have finally found a white dwarf companion in a 4.04 day orbit around the rare low-mass Wolf-Rayet type central star of NGC 5189.

[4] NGC 5189 is estimated to be 546 parsecs[5] or 1,780 light years away from Earth.