NGC 1806 is a globular cluster located within the Large Magellanic Cloud within the constellation of Dorado (the dolphin-fish), an area of the sky best seen from the Earth's southern hemisphere.

It was discovered in 1836 by the British astronomer John Herschel.

At an aperture of 50 arcseconds, its apparent V-band magnitude is 11.00, but at this wavelength, it has 0.05 magnitudes of interstellar extinction.

Its estimated mass is 7.6×104 M☉, and its total luminosity is 1.42×105 L☉, leading to a mass-to-luminosity ratio of 0.54 M☉/L☉.

[3] All else equal, older star clusters have higher mass-to-luminosity ratios; that is, they have lower luminosities for the same mass.