M44
the Beehive Cluster in Cancer


2.4'' refractor  28 x

Very loose, bright collection of about 30 to 40 stars. Cannot fit the entire cluster into a view 1 degree wide.

North is at 12 o'clock, East at 3 o'clock


8x50mm finderscope

Very wide-spread cluster, best seen in its totality with the finderscope. In the 10" at lowest power (36x, 1 degree 23' fov) I see a number of bright stars overflowing the field of view. With the finderscope (fov = 5 degrees) plotted approximately 35 stars in the cluster. Left of the cluster center is a double star S571 (two bluish companions at magnitudes 6.7 and 7.2) paired with a third to make a cute threesome. The bright stars Delta Cancri or Asellus Australis (lower right) and Gamma Cancri or Asellus Borealis (upper right) are within the field of view.

Listed as over a degree and half and containing some 75 stars in total. 525 light years away and very old, about 700 million years or 10 times the age of the Pleiades.

North is at 12 o'clock, East at 3 o'clock