File:M44-Star-Cluster.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
I don't have specific context about "Beehive Cluster" provided in your message to write an accurate overview. To give you a reliable 2-sentence description based only on the information you've provided, I would need additional details beyond just the category "open cluster." Could you provide more context about Beehive Cluster that I should base the overview on?
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Wikidata facts
- Distance from Earth
- 187
- Radius
- 7.5
- Image
- Messier 44 2018.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Beehive Cluster
- catalog code
- [KPS2012] MWSC 1527
- apparent magnitude
- 3.1
- time of discovery or invention
- 0260-00-00
- radial velocity
- 35.64
- right ascension
- 130.1000
- declination
- 19.6667
- parallax
- 5.371
- metallicity
- 0.16
- declination component of proper motion
- -12.917
- right ascension component of proper motion
- -36.047
- angular diameter
- 95
- age estimated by a dating method
- 0.7
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Article
Map showing the location of M44 in the constellation of Cancer The Beehive Cluster (also known as Praesepe (Latin for "manger", "cot" or "crib"), M44, NGC 2632, or Cr 189) is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. One of the nearest open clusters to Earth, it contains a larger population of stars than other nearby bright open clusters holding around 1,000 stars. Under dark skies, the Beehive Cluster looks like a small nebulous object to the naked eye, and has been known since ancient times. Classical astronomer Ptolemy described it as a "nebulous mass in the breast of Cancer". It was among the first objects that Galileo studied with his telescope.
Its age and proper motion coincide with those of the Hyades, suggesting they may share similar origins. Both clusters also contain red giants and white dwarfs, which represent later stages of stellar evolution, along with many main sequence stars.