M44 The Beehive Cluster, AlBroxton

M44 The BeehiveCluster

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Description

The BeehiveCluster, also known as Praesepe (Latin for "manger"), M44, NGC 2632, or Cr 189, is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. 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 BeehiveCluster 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. Discovered by Hipparchus in 130 BC.

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M44 The Beehive Cluster, AlBroxton