Though it’s one of many 12 zodiacal constellations, Cancer the Crab is so faint that you just’d possible by no means discover it … Aside from the stunning star cluster in its midst. This cluster is usually referred to as the Beehive, or M44. An older identify is Praesepe (manger or crib in Latin). The truth is, the Beehive is a superb swarm of stars, glimpsed with the attention alone in a dark location. It’s also possible to see it simply in binoculars. Its dimension is 1.5 degrees, or three full-moon diameters. Though the attention can’t detect all of them, it incorporates some 1,000 stars.
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How one can see the Beehive star cluster
First, search for Regulus, and the Gemini stars Castor and Pollux, as a result of they’re your information stars to the Beehive star cluster. You then’ll discover the Beehive star cluster about midway between Regulus and the Castor-and-Pollux pair.
So, in March, look within the east after darkish. You’ll in all probability see Regulus, the brightest star within the constellation Leo, fairly near the japanese horizon. Then the brilliant stars Castor and Pollux within the constellation Gemini will catch your eye increased up within the japanese sky.
Because the months go, the Beehive will climb increased within the night sky. Lastly, it would disappear from the western night sky in late June, and can return to the japanese morning sky beginning round late August.
You’d suppose that an object with so many names – NGC 2632, M44, Praesepe, Beehive – can be brilliant. However solely in darkish nation skies you’ll be able to see this faint fuzzy object with the unaided eye. Nonetheless, binoculars magically rework this smudge of sunshine right into a glittery swarm of stars.
The Beehive’s 1,000 stars
There are roughly 1,000 stars within the lovely Beehive cluster, which is an open cluster of stars in our galaxy. Open clusters are stars which might be gravitationally certain and are created out of the identical star-forming nebula, comparable to the celebs within the Orion Nebula. The Beehive is without doubt one of the nearest open clusters to our sun and Earth. It has a bigger inhabitants of stars than most different close by clusters.
The Beehive’s distance is about 577 light-years from our solar system. The cluster shines at magnitude +3.7. Should you use binoculars to see the Beehive, the brightest star you’re seeing is 42 Cancri.
Planets within the Beehive star cluster
Becky Smethurst of College of Oxford discusses Messier 44 and the invention of planets round stars within the open cluster.
In 2012, the Kepler Space Observatory discovered two planets within the Beehive. The planets orbit two totally different stars. The planets’ designations are Pr0201b and Pr0211b. Each of those planets are scorching Jupiters, that’s, large gasoline giants, in each circumstances orbiting very near their stars. These two have been the primary planets astronomers detected orbiting stars like our personal sun that have been located in an open star cluster. Since their discovery, Kepler has discovered 4 extra exoplanets orbiting stars within the Beehive.
Historical past and mythology of the Beehive cluster
As early because the second century C.E., Ptolemy wrote that the Beehive star cluster was:
… the nebulous mass within the breast of Most cancers.
In historical instances, folks used the cluster as a climate predictor. Pliny mentioned:
If Praesaepe shouldn’t be seen in a transparent sky, it’s a presage of a violent storm.
Galileo had the primary telescopic view of the Beehive in 1609. Together with his paper tube and two items of glass, he was in a position to detect 40 stars.
Round 1769, Charles Messier added the cluster to his well-known catalog of nebulous objects. Therefore the designation M44: the forty fourth object in Messier’s catalog.
The Beehive star cluster was a manger in Greek and Roman mythology. You would possibly discover two brilliant stars on both facet of the cluster along with your binoculars, otherwise you would possibly see them with the unaided eye in darkish skies. These two stars are Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis. In starlore, they characterize the donkeys that Dionysus and Silenus rode into battle in opposition to the Titans.
Backside line: The Beehive cluster is an open cluster that lies close to the middle of the constellation Most cancers the Crab. Moreover, it goes by many names, together with Praesepe and M44.
