images

Open star cluster M44 in Cancer

by

E.Mouquet/Novapix

Reference

a-aou26-32004

Date

2007-01-15

M44 (NGC 2632), the Beehive CLuster, also known as Praesepe, is an easy naked eye object more than twice the size across of the full moon, and has thus been noted since prehistoric times. It was one of the first objects on which Galileo trained his newly acquired telescope. M44 is one of the nearest open clusters, close to 600 light-years away.