Busy Bees

Cancer AKA the Crab, is the dimmest of the zodiacal constellations and generally lacking in notable objects except, at its centre, lying almost on the Ecliptic just 600 light-years from Earth, M44 is one of the closest star clusters to the Solar System. More engagingly, M44 derives its alternative name from its appearance as a swarm of stars dancing actively like bees i.e. the Beehive Cluster. Its Latin equivalent, Praesepe means hive, manger or crib.

At 600 million years old its dancing stars must be considered quite youthful compared to our Sun’s 4.5 billion years and are thought to have been created from the same, very large molecular cloud as Hyades in the constellation of Taurus. An open cluster of some 1,000 stars, M44 spans 15 light-years across or about 1.5^o. A few but distinctive yellow-orange tinted red giants stand out, scattered amongst the brighter hot blue stars, making an attractive image, one I expect to return to during the next three or more months as The Crab shuffles westwards across the night sky before giving way to views of a Spring and Summer nature.