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Object description |
NGC 6541, with an apparent diameter of 13 arcminutes, is a rather large globular cluster in the constellation of the Southern Crown. It has a distance of about 23,000 light years to the solar system and is classified as class III according to Shapley (strong concentration in the core area).
NGC 6541 is very old, even for globular clusters, and it contains a large number of so-called "blue stragglers". Their number is estimated at almost 100. Blue stragglers are stars that are bluer (and therefore hotter) and more luminous than stars of the same age and metallicity. Since it is assumed that all stars of a globular cluster have formed from a homogeneous molecular cloud, these stars deviate from the general theory of the formation of stars.
NGC 6541 was discovered on 19 March 1826 by the Italian astronomer Niccolò Cacciatore. To the west and northwest (here on the left) lies a large molecular cloud with the catalogue designation GN 18.06.1.02.
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