NGC 6540
Globular Star Cluster in Sagittarius
| Position (J2000): | 18h06m08s -27°45'55" |
| Magnitude: | 14.6 |
| Size: | 1'.5 |
| Class: | --- |
| Finder Charts: | 30° | 15° | 5° |
| Search Radius: | 5° |
| NGC Description: | pF, S, iE, er or Cl |
| Other Identifiers: | Cr 364, ESO 456-SC053, Lund 808, OCL-11, H II-198, GC 4371, Djorgovsky 3 |
NGC 6540 was discovered by William Herschel on May 24, 1784. Herschel cataloged the discovery as H II.198 classifying it as a "faint nebula". NGC 6540 was continually misclassified (e.g. classified as an open cluster by Collinder who cataloged it as Cr 364) until September 1986 when S. Djorgovski independently rediscovered the cluster classifying it as an obscure globular cluster and cataloged it as Djorg 3.1 Djorgovski failed to identify the cluster as NGC 6540. In 1994 Bica, Ortolani and Barbuy identified the cluster as NGC 6540 and confirmed it as a globular cluster.2
Learn more about NGC 6540 on the web, browse the observing lists containing NGC 6540, or review the references used to gather information regarding NGC 6540.
Observations
| ID | Description |
|---|---|
| 1000 | Mid-South Stargaze 2003 - April 26, 2003 07:46 UT At 125x with the 16mm eyepiece in the 203mm SCT, NGC6540 appears as a small, faint, cluster of very faint stars with averted vision. With direct vision, the cluster appears as a faint diffuse patch of light. |
