About Beehive Cluster (M44)

Beehive Cluster is a rewarding deep-sky target and appears as a soft glow. It is relatively bright.

Current visibility

Right now it is at about 63° altitude and reaches 70° around 05:01 PM.

It stays above 30° for roughly 8 hours.

Observing conditions matter, fine detail requires darker skies.

Observing tips

This makes it a good target for beginners.

What to expect

At higher magnification, subtle detail can be detected.

It is more subtle than brighter Dso objects.

Type

Open Cluster

Constellation

Cancer

Distance

577 ly

Size

70.0'

Season

Winter

Difficulty

Easy

Magnitude

3.7