Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cancer (Cnc)  ·  Contains:  41 Cnc)  ·  Almalaf (ε Cnc  ·  Beehive  ·  M 44  ·  NGC 2632  ·  Praesepe Cluster  ·  The star 38 Cnc  ·  The star 39 Cnc  ·  The star 40 Cnc  ·  The star Meleph
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M44, Beehive Cluster, Doug Summers
M44, Beehive Cluster
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M44, Beehive Cluster

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M44, Beehive Cluster, Doug Summers
M44, Beehive Cluster
Powered byPixInsight

M44, Beehive Cluster

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Description

A "nebulous mass in the breast of Cancer" as Ptolemy described it,  the "manger" is a close open cluster.  Its distance is roughly 500-600 light years.  It's age is estimated at 600 million years.   The brightest center region fills a diameter of 25 light years.     In total, the cluster contains about 1000 stars.   

This naked eye object has a nice dynamic range, with many bright and dim regions.   The field is nicely colored, and there are several faint fuzzies to admire.

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  • M44, Beehive Cluster, Doug Summers
    Original
  • Final
    M44, Beehive Cluster, Doug Summers
    B

B

Description: This is a new version of this object, taken with an ASI2600mcPro OSC. 1.3 hours (106 subs of 45 secs). The field was cropped some as vignetting hasn't been sorted out yet. Processed using SPCC, BXT, and GHS.

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M44, Beehive Cluster, Doug Summers