Object Analysis

The Beehive Cluster (Messier 44), also known as Praesepe (Latin for "manger"), is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open clusters to Earth, containing a larger population of stars than other nearby bright open clusters like the Hyades.

Under dark skies, the Beehive Cluster looks like a small, fuzzy object to the naked eye; ancient astronomers described it as a "little cloud" or "cloudy star." Galileo was the first to resolve it into stars with his telescope. It contains at least 1,000 stars, of which about 30% are Sun-like, located about 610 light-years away.

Interestingly, the age and proper motion of M44 coincide with those of the Hyades, suggesting that both clusters may have shared a similar origin in a massive molecular cloud roughly 600 to 700 million years ago, before drifting apart.