Beehive Cluster (M44)
A large open cluster, visible to the naked eye as a nebulous object under dark skies.
Open cluster in Cancer. Magnitude 3.7.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 77° above the northern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 73° above the northern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 28 Jan, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Visible to the eye from a dark site as a faint misty patch.
- 10x50 binoculars: Resolves into dozens of stars.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Too big for most telescope fields; binoculars show it better.
- A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 300 mm (field 4.5° × 3.0°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 95′, 3.1 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 3.7. Brighter than the faintest stars Georgetown shows (4.3), and Lethem's (6.0).
- Distance: 610 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 610 years ago, around the year 1420.
What it is made of
- Type
- Open Cluster
- Distance
- Approx. 610 Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 16 Lightyears diameter
- Main Sequence Stars: Hundreds of stars, mostly A-F types
More deep-sky objects: M67 (Open Cluster) · Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) · Open Cluster M35 · M46 (Open Cluster) & NGC 2438 (Planetary Nebula) · M47 (Open Cluster) · Open Cluster M37