M44 The Beehive Cluster - aka.. Praespe (the manger)
Magnitude: 3.7
Distance: Aprox: 577 light-years
Constellation: Cancer
Star Count: Aprox 1000
Diameter: 95 arc minutes
It is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System, and it contains a larger star population than most other nearby clusters. Under dark skies the Beehive Cluster looks like a nebulous object to the naked eye; thus it has been known since ancient times. The classical astronomer Ptolemy called it "the nebulous mass in the breast of Cancer," and it was among the first objects that Galileo studied with his telescope. The bright central core of M44 has a linear diameter of 22.8 light years
The best time of year to observe the Beehive Cluster is from February to May, when Cancer rises high in the sky for northern observers.
Taken 1/25/17 in Toledo Ohio by Russell Kille on a CPC 1100 with Hyperstar @ F2 and ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera
Click to enlarge